HE   RIDO 


U;NIVE:RSE 


ERNST  HAECKEI 


MEMCAL 


Gift 


Thomas  17.  Hunt  ing  t  on,  jr 


THE 
RIDDLE   OF    THE    UNIVERSE 


THE    RIDDLE 
OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

AT    THE    CLOSE    OF 
THE    NINETEENTH   CENTURY 


BY 


ERNST    HAECKEL 

(Ph.D.,    M.D.,    LL.D.,    Sc.D.,    and    Professor   at    the 
University  of  Jena) 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  HISTORY  OF  CREATION" 
"  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MAN  "  ETC. 


TRANSLATED   BY 

JOSEPH    McCABE 


HARPER    &    BROTHERS    PUBLISHERS 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 


Copyright,  1900,  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS. 
All  rights  reserved. 


H 

35- 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

AUTHOR'S  PREFACE v 

TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE xi 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PROBLEM  .  i 


CHAPTER  II 
OUR  BODILY  FRAME 22 

CHAPTER  III 
OUR  LIFE 39 

CHAPTER  IV 
OUR  EMBRYONIC  DEVELOPMENT.    ,. 53 

CHAPTER  V 
THE  HISTORY  OF  OUR  SPECIES 71 

CHAPTER  VI 
THE  NATURE  OF  THE  SOUL 88 

CHAPTER  VII 
PSYCHIC  GRADATIONS 108 

CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  EMBRYOLOGY  OF  THE  SOUL 132 

CHAPTER  IX 
THE  PHYLOGENY  OF  THE  SOUL 148 


in 


JO 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  X  PAGE 

CONSCIOUSNESS 170 

CHAPTER  XI 
THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL 188 

CHAPTER  XII 
THE  LAW  OF  SUBSTANCE 211 

CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WORLD 233 

CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  UNITY  OF  NATURE 254 

CHAPTER  XV 
GOD  AND  THE  WORLD 275 

CHAPTER  XVI 
KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 292 

CHAPTER  XVII 
SCIENCE  AND  CHRISTIANITY 308 

CHAPTER  XVIII 
OUR  MONISTIC  RELIGION 331 

CHAPTER  XIX 
OUR  MONISTIC  ETHICS 347 

CHAPTER  XX 
SOLUTION  OF  THE  WORLD-PROBLEMS 365 

CONCLUSION 380 

INDEX 385 


AUTHOR'S   PREFACE 


THE  present  study  of  the  monistic  philosophy  is 
intended  for  thoughtful  readers  of  every  condi- 
tion who  are  united  in  an  honest  search  for  the  truth. 
An  intensification  of  this  effort  of  man  to  attain  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth  is  one  of  the  most  salient 
features  of  the  nineteenth  century.  That  is  easily  ex- 
plained, in  the  first  place,  by  the  immense  progress 
of  science,  especially  in  its  most  important  branch, 
the  history  of  humanity ;  it  is  due,  in  the  second  place, 
to  the  open  contradiction  that  has  developed  during 
the  century  between  science  and  the  traditional  "  Rev- 
elation " ;  and,  finally,  it  arises  from  the  inevitable  ex- 
tension and  deepening  of  the  rational  demand  for  an 
elucidation  of  the  innumerable  facts  that  have  been 
recently  brought  to  light,  and  for  a  fuller  knowledge 
of  their  causes. 

Unfortunately,  this  vast  progress  of  empirical  knowl- 
edge in  our  "  Century  of  Science  "  has  not  been  ac- 
companied by  a  corresponding  advancement  of  its 
theoretical  interpretation — that  higher  knowledge  of 
the  causal  nexus  of  individual  phenomena  which  we 
call  philosophy.  We  find,  on  the  contrary,  that  the 
abstract  and  almost  wholly  metaphysical  science 
which  has  been  taught  in  our  universities  for  the 


AUTHOR'S   PREFACE 

last  hundred  years  under  the  name  of  "philosophy" 
is  far  from  assimilating  our  hard-earned  treasures  of 
experimental  research.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have 
to  admit,  with  equal  regret,  that  most  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  what  is  called  "exact  science'*  are  con- 
tent with  the  special  care  of  their  own  narrow  branches 
of  observation  and  experiment,  and  deem  superfluous 
the  deeper  study  of  the  universal  connection  of  the 
phenomena  they  observe — that  is,  philosophy.  While 
these  pure  empiricists  "do  not  see  the  wood  for  the 
trees/'  the  metaphysicians,  on  the  other  hand,  are  satis- 
fied with  the  mere  picture  of  the  wood,  and  trouble  not 
about  its  individual  trees.  The  idea  of  a  "philosophy 
of  nature,"  to  which  both  those  methods  of  research, 
the  empirical  and  the  speculative,  naturally  converge, 
is  even  yet  contemptuously  rejected  by  large  numbers 
of  representatives  of  both  tendencies. 

This  unnatural  and  fatal  opposition  between  science 
and  philosophy,  between  the  results  of  experience  and 
of  thought,  is  undoubtedly  becoming  more  and  more 
onerous  and  painful  to  thoughtful  people.  That  is 
easily  proved  by  the  increasing  spread  of  the  immense 
popular  literature  of  "natural  philosophy"  which  has 
sprung  up  in  the  course  of  the  last  half-century.  It  is 
seen,  too,  in  the  welcome  fact  that,  in  spite  of  the 
mutual  aversion  of  the  scientific  observer  and  the 
speculative  philosopher,  nevertheless  eminent  thinkers 
from  both  camps  league  themselves  in  a  united  ef- 
fort to  attain  the  solution  of  that  highest  object  of  in- 
quiry which  we  briefly  denominate  the  "world-riddles." 
The  studies  of  these  "  world  -  riddles "  which  I  offer 
in  the  present  work  cannot  reasonably  claim  to  give 
a  perfect  solution  of  them;  they  merely  offer  to  a 
wide  circle  of  readers  a  critical  inquiry  into  the  prob- 

vi 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 

lem,  and  seek  to  answer  the  question  as  to  how  nearly 
we  have  approached  that  solution  at  the  present  day. 
What  stage  in  the  attainment  of  truth  have  we  actually 
arrived  at  in  this  closing  year  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury? What  progress  have  we  really  made  during  its 
course  towards  that  immeasurably  distant  goal  ? 

The  answer  which  I  give  to  these  great  questions 
must,  naturally,  be  merely  subjective  and  only  partly 
correct;  for  my  knowledge  of  nature  and  my  ability 
to  interpret  its  objective  reality  are  limited,  as  are 
those  of  every  man.  The  one  point  that  I  can  claim 
for  it,  and  which,  indeed,  I  must  ask  of  my  strongest 
opponents,  is  that  my  Monistic  Philosophy  is  sincere 
from  beginning  to  end — it  is  the  complete  expression 
of  the  conviction  that  has  come  to  me,  after  many 
years  of  ardent  research  into  Nature  and  unceasing 
reflection,  as  to  the  true  basis  of  its  phenomena.  For 
fully  half  a  century  has  my  mind's  work  proceeded, 
and  I  now,  in  my  sixty-sixth  year,  may  venture  to 
claim  that  it  is  mature ;  I  am  fully  convinced  that  this 
"ripe  fruit"  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  will  receive  no 
important  addition  and  suffer  no  substantial  modifi- 
cation during  the  brief  spell  of  life  that  remains  to  me. 

I  presented  all  the  essential  and  distinctive  elements 
of  my  monistic  and  genetic  philosophy  thirty-three 
years  ago,  in  my  General  Morphology  of  Organisms,  a 
large  and  laborious  work,  which  has  had  but  a  limited 
circulation.  It  was  the  first  attempt  to  apply  in  detail 
the  newly  established  theory  of  evolution  to  the  whole 
science  of  organic  forms.  In  order  to  secure  the  accept- 
ance of  at  least  one  part  of  the  new  thought  which  it 
contained,  and  to  kindle  a  wider  interest  in  the  greatest 
advancement  of  knowledge  that  our  century  has  wit- 
nessed, I  published  my  Natural  History  of  Creation 

vii 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 

two  years  afterwards.  As  this  less  complicated  work, 
in  spite  of  its  great  defects,  ran  into  nine  large  editions 
and  twelve  different  translations,  it  has  contributed 
not  a  little  to  the  spread  of  monistic  views.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  less  known  Anthropogeny*  (1874), 
in  which  I  set  myself  the  difficult  task  of  rendering  the 
most  important  facts  of  the  theory  of  man's  descent 
accessible  and  intelligible  to  the  general  reader;  the 
fourth,  enlarged,  edition  of  that  work  appeared  in 
1891.  In  the  paper  which  I  read  at  the  fourth  Inter- 
national Congress  of  Zoology  at  Cambridge,  in  1898, 
on  "  Our  Present  Knowledge  of  the  Descent  of  Man  "  t 
(a  seventh  edition  of  which  appeared  in  1899),  I  treated 
certain  significant  and  particularly  valuable  advances 
which  this  important  branch  of  anthropology  has  re- 
cently made.  Other  isolated  questions  of  our  modern 
natural  philosophy,  which  are  peculiarly  interesting, 
have  been  dealt  with  in  my  Collected  Popular  Lectures 
on  the  Subject  of  Evolution  (1878).  Finally,  I  have 
briefly  presented  the  broad  principles  of  my  monistic 
philosophy  and  its  relation  to  the  dominant  faith  in 
my  Confession  of  Faith  of  a  Man  of  Science  :  Monism 
as  a  Connecting  Link  between  Religion  and  Science  J 
(1892,  eighth  edition,  1899). 

The  present  work  on  The  Riddle  of  the  Universe 
is  the  continuation,  confirmation,  and  integration  of 
the  views  which  I  have  urged  for  a  generation  in  the 
aforesaid  volumes.  It  marks  the  close  of  my  studies 
on  the  monistic  conception  of  the  universe.  The  earlier 

*  There  are  two  English  translations,  The  Evolution  of  Man 
(1879)  and  The  Pedigree  of  Man  (1880). 

t  The  English  translation,  by  Dr.  Hans  Gadow,  bears  the  title 
of  The  Last  Link. 

J  English  translation,  by  J.  Gilchrist,  with  the  title  of  Monism. 

viii 


AUTHOR'S   PREFACE 

plan,  which  I  projected  many  years  ago,  of  construct- 
ing a  complete  "System  of  Monistic  Philosophy"  on 
the  basis  of  evolution  will  never  be  carried  into  effect 
now.  My  strength  is  no  longer  equal  to  the  task, 
and  many  warnings  of  approaching  age  urge  me  to 
desist.  Indeed,  I  am  wholly  a  child  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  with  its  close  I  draw  the  line  under  my 
life's  work. 

The  vast  extension  of  human  knowledge  which  has 
taken  place  during  the  present  century,  owing  to  a 
happy  division  of  labor,  makes  it  impossible  to-day 
to  range  over  all  its  branches  with  equal  thorough- 
ness, and  to  show  their  essential  unity  and  connec- 
tion. Even  a  genius  of  the  highest  type,  having  an 
equal  command  of  every  branch  of  science,  and  largely 
endowed  with  the  artistic  faculty  of  comprehensive 
presentation,  would  be  incapable  of  setting  forth  a 
complete  view  of  the  cosmos  in  the  space  of  a  moderate 
volume.  My  own  command  of  the  various  branches  of 
science  is  uneven  and  defective,  so  that  I  can  attempt 
no  more  than  to  sketch  the  general  plan  of  such  a 
world-picture,  and  point  out  the  pervading  unity  of  its 
parts,  however  imperfect  be  the  execution.  Thus  it 
is  that  this  work  on  the  world-enigma  has  something 
of  the  character  of  a  sketch-book,  in  which  studies  of 
unequal  value  are  associated.  As  the  material  of  the 
book  was  partly  written  many  years  ago,  and  partly 
produced  for  the  first  time  during  the  last  few  years, 
the  composition  is,  unfortunately,  uneven  at  times; 
repetitions,  too,  have  proved  unavoidable.  I  trust  those 
defects  will  be  overlooked. 

In  taking  leave  of  my  readers,  I  venture  the  hope 
that,  through  my  sincere  and  conscientious  work — in 
spite  of  its  faults,  of  which  I  am  not  unconscious — 

ix 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 

I  have  contributed  a  little  towards  the  solution  of  the 
great  enigma.  Amid  the  clash  of  theories,  I  trust 
that  I  have  indicated  to  many  a  reader  who  is  absorbed 
in  the  zealous  pursuit  of  purely  rational  knowledge 
that  path  which,  it  is  my  firm  conviction,  alone  leads 
to  the  truth — the  path  of  empirical  investigation  and 
of  the  Monistic  Philosophy  which  is  based  upon  it. 

ERNST  HAECKEL. 
JENA,  GERMANY. 


PREFACE 


HTHE  hour  is  close  upon  us  when  we  shall  commence 
our  retrospect  of  one  of  the  most  wonderful  sec- 
tions of  time  that  was  ever  measured  by  the  sweep 
of  the  earth.  Already  the  expert  is  at  work,  dissect- 
ing out  and  studying  his  particular  phase  of  that  vast 
world  of  thought  and  action  we  call  the  nineteenth 
century.  Art,  literature,  commerce,  industry,  politics, 
ethics — all  have  their  high  interpreters  among  us; 
but  in  the  chance  of  life  it  has  fallen  out  that  there  is 
none  to  read  aright  for  us,  in  historic  retrospect,  what 
after  ages  will  probably  regard  as  the  most  salient 
feature  of  the  nineteenth  century — the  conflict  of  the- 
ology with  philosophy  and  science.  The  pens  of  our 
Huxleys,  and  Tyndalls,  and  Darwins  lie  where  they 
fell;  there  is  none  left  in  strength  among  us  to  sum 
up  the  issues  of  that  struggle  with  knowledge  and 
sympathy. 

In  these  circumstances  it  has  been  thought  fitting 
that  we  should  introduce  to  English  readers  the  latest 
work  of  Professor  Haeckel.  Germany,  as  the  reader 
will  quickly  perceive,  is  witnessing  the  same  strange 
reaction  of  thought  that  we  see  about  us  here  in  Eng- 
land, yet  Die  Weltrdthsel  found  an  immediate  and  very 
extensive  circle  of  readers.  One  of  the  most  prominent 

xi 


PREFACE 

zoologists  of  the  century,  Professor  Haeckel,  has  a 
unique  claim  to  pronounce  with  authority,  from  the 
scientific  side,  on  what  is  known  as  "the  conflict  of 
science  and  religion."  In  the  contradictory  estimates 
that  are  urged  on  us — for  the  modern  ecclesiastic  is 
as  emphatic  in  his  assurance  that  the  conflict  has 
ended  favorably  to  theology  as  the  rationalist  is  with 
'his  counter-assertion — the  last  words  of  one  of  the 
leading  combatants  of  the  second  half  of  the  century, 
still,  happily,  in  full  vigor  of  mind,  will  be  heard  with 
respect  and  close  attention. 

A  glance  at  the  index  of  the  work  suffices  to  indicate 
its  comprehensive  character.  The  judgment  of  the  dis- 
tinguished scientist  cannot  fail  to  have  weight  on  all 
the  topics  included ;  yet  the  reader  will  soon  discover 
a  vein  of  exceptionally  interesting  thought  in  the  chap- 
ters on  evolution.  The  evolution  of  the  human  body 
is  no  longer  a  matter  of  serious  dispute.  It  has  passed 
the  first  two  tribunals — those  of  theology  and  of  an  & 
priori  philosophy — and  is  only  challenged  at  the  third 
and  last — that  of  empirical  proof — by  the  decorative 
heads  of  scientific  bodies  and  a  few  isolated  thinkers. 

"Apparent  rari  nantes  in  gurgite  vasto." 

But  the  question  of  the  evolution  of  the  human  mind, 
or  soul,  has  been  successfully  divorced  from  that  of 
the  body.  Roman  Catholic  advanced  theologians, 
whose  precise  terminology  demanded  a  clear  position, 
admit  the  latter  and  deny  the  former  categorically. 
Other  theologians,  and  many  philosophers,  have  still 
a  vague  notion  that  the  evidence  for  the  one  does  not 
impair  their  sentimental  objection  to  the  other.  Dr. 
HaeckeFs  work  summarizes  the  evidence  for  the  evo- 

xii 


PREFACE 

lution  of  mind  in  a  masterly  and  profoundly  interesting 
fashion.  It  seems  impossible  to  follow  his  broad  sur- 
vey of  the  psychic  world,  from  protist  to  man,  without 
bearing  away  a  conviction  of  the  natural  origin  of 
every  power  and  content  of  the  human  soul. 

TRANSLATOR. 

October,  1900. 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

The  Condition  of  Civilization  and  of  Thought  at  the  Close  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century — Progress  of  Our  Knowledge  of  Nature, 
of  the  Organic  and  Inorganic  Sciences — The  Law  of  Substance 
and  the  Law  of  Evolution — Progress  of  Technical  Science 
and  of  Applied  Chemistry — Stagnancy  in  other  Departments 
of  Life :  Legal  and  Political  Administration,  Education,  and 
the  Church — Conflict  of  Reason  and  Dogma — Anthropism — 
Cosmological  Perspective — Cosmological  Theorems — Refuta- 
tion of  the  Delusion  of  Man's  Importance — Number  of  "  World- 
Riddles  "—Criticism  of  the  "  Seven  "  Enigmas— The  Way  to 
Solve  Them — Function  of  the  Senses  and  of  the  Brain — In- 
duction and  Deduction — Reason,  Sentiment,  and  Revelation 
— Philosophy  and  Science — Experience  and  Speculation — 
Dualism  and  Monism 

HP  HE  close  of  the  nineteenth  century  offers  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  spectacles  to  the  thoughtful  ob- 
server. All  educated  people  are  agreed  that  it  has  in 
many  respects  immeasurably  outstripped  its  predeces- 
sors, and  has  achieved  tasks  that  were  deemed  impracti- 
cable at  its  commencement.  An  entirely  new  character 
has  been  given  to  the  whole  of  our  modern  civilization, 
not  only  by  our  astounding  theoretical  progress  in  sound 
knowledge  of  nature,  but  also  by  the  remarkably  fertile 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

practical  application  of  that  knowledge  in  technical 
science,  industry,  commerce,  and  so  forth.  On  the 
other  hand,  however,  we  have  made  little  or  no  prog- 
ress in  moral  and  social  life,  in  comparison  with  earlier 
centuries;  at  times  there  has  been  serious  reaction. 
And  from  this  obvious  conflict  there  have  arisen,  not 
only  an  uneasy  sense  of  dismemberment  and  falseness, 
but  even  the  danger  of  grave  catastrophes  in  the  polit- 
ical and  social  world.  It  is,  then,  not  merely  the  right, 
but  the  sacred  duty,  of  every  honorable  and  humani- 
tarian thinker  to  devote  himself  conscientiously  to  the 
settlement  of  that  conflict,  and  to  warding  off  the  dan- 
gers that  it  brings  in  its  train.  In  our  conviction  this 
can  only  be  done  by  a  courageous  effort  to  attain  the 
truth,  and  by  the  formation  of  a  clear  view  of  the  world 
• — a  view  that  shall  be  based  on  truth  and  conformity 
to  reality. 

If  we  recall  to  mind  the  imperfect  condition  of  science 
at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  and  compare  this  with 
the  magnificent  structure  of  its  closing  years,  we  are 
compelled  to  admit  that  marvellous  progress  has  been 
made  during  its  course.  Every  single  branch  of  science 
can  boast  that  it  has,  especially  during  the  latter  half 
of  the  century,  made  numerous  acquisitions  of  the  ut- 
most value.  Both  in  our  microscopic  knowledge  of  the 
i little  and  in  our  telescopic  investigation  of  the  great 
we  have  attained  an  invaluable  insight  that  seemed  in- 
conceivable a  hundred  years  ago.  Improved  methods  of 
microscopic  and  biological  research  have  not  only  re- 
vealed to  us  an  invisible  world  of  living  things  in  the 
kingdom  of  the  protists,  full  of  an  infinite  wealth  of 
forms,  but  they  have  taught  us  to  recognize  in  the  tiny 
cell  the  all-pervading  *  elementary  organism  "  of  whose 
social  communities — the  tissues — the  body  of  every 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

multicellular  plant  and  animal,  even  that  of  man,  is 
composed.  This  anatomical  knowledge  is  of  extreme 
importance;  and  it  is  supplemented  by  the  embryo- 
logical  discovery  that  each  of  the  higher  multicellular 
organisms  is  developed  out  of  one  simple  cell,  the  im- 
pregnated ovum.  The  u  cellular  theory,"  which  has 
been  founded  on  that  discovery,  has  given  us  the  first 
true  interpretation  of  the  physical,  chemical,  and  even 
the  psychological  processes  of  life — those  mysterious 
phenomena  for  whose  explanation  it  had  been  custom- 
ary to  postulate  a  supernatural  "  vital  force  "  or  "  im- 
mortal soul."  Moreover,  the  true  character  of  disease 
has  been  made  clear  and  intelligible  to  the  physician 
for  the  first  time  by  the  cognate  science  of  Cellular 
Pathology. 

The  discoveries  of  the  nineteenth  century  in  the  in- 
organic world  are  no  less  important.  Physics  has  made 
astounding  progress  in  every  section  of  its  province — 
in  optics  and  acoustics,  in  magnetism  and  electricity, 
in  mechanics  and  thermo-dynamics ;  and,  what  is  still 
more  important,  it  has  proved  the  unity  of  the  forces 
of  the  entire  universe.  The  mechanical  theory  of  heat 
has  shown  how  intimately  they  are  connected,  and  how 
each  can,  in  certain  conditions,  transform  itself  directly 
into  another.  Spectral  analysis  has  taught  us  that  the 
same  matter  which  enters  into  the  composition  of  all 
bodies  on  earth,  including  its  living  inhabitants,  builds 
up  the  rest  of  the  planets,  the  sun,  and  the  most  distant 
stars.  Astro-physics  has  considerably  enlarged  our 
cosmic  perspective  in  revealing  to  us,  in  the  immeasur- 
able depths  of  space,  millions  of  circling  spheres  larger 
than  our  earth,  and,  like  it,  in  endless  transformation, 
in  an  eternal  rhythm  of  life  and  death.  Chemistry  has 
introduced  us  to  a  multitude  of  new  substances,  all  of 

3 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

which  arise  from  the  combination  of  a  few  (about  sev- 
enty) elements  that  are  incapable  of  further  analysis ; 
some  of  them  play  a  most  important  part  in  every  branch 
of  life.  It  has  been  shown  that  one  of  these  elements 
— carbon — is  the  remarkable  substance  that  effects  the 
endless  variety  of  organic  syntheses,  and  thus  may  be 
considered  "  the  chemical  basis  of  life."  All  the  par- 
ticular advances,  however,  of  physics  and  chemistry 
yield  in  theoretical  importance  to  the  discovery  of  the 
great  law  which  brings  them  all  to  one  common  focus, 
the  "  Law  of  Substance."  As  this  fundamental  cosmic 
law  establishes  the  eternal  persistence  of  matter  and 
force,  their  unvarying  constancy  throughout  the  entire 
universe,  it  has  become  the  pole-star  that  guides  our 
Monistic  Philosophy  through  the  mighty  labyrinth  to 
a  solution  of  the  world-problem. 

Since  we  intend  to  make  a  general  survey  of  the  act- 
ual condition  of  our  knowledge  of  nature  and  its  prog- 
ress during  the  present  century  in  the  following  chap- 
ters, we  shall  delay  no  longer  with  the  review  of  its 
particular  branches.  We  would  only  mention  one  im- 
portant advance,  which  was  contemporary  with  the  dis- 
covery of  the  law  of  substance,  and  which  supplements 
it — the  establishment  of  the  theory  of  evolution.  It  is 
true  that  there  were  philosophers  who  spoke  of  the  evo- 
lution of  things  a  thousand  years  ago ;  but  the  recogni- 
tion that  such  a  law  dominates  the  entire  universe,  and 
that  the  world  is  nothing  else  than  an  eternal  "  evolution 
of  substance,"  is  a  fruit  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It 
was  not  until  the  second  half  of  this  century  that  it  at- 
tained to  perfect  clearness  and  a  universal  application. 
The  immortal  merit  of  establishing  the  doctrine  on  an 
empirical  basis,  and  pointing  out  its  world-wide  appli- 
cation, belongs  to  the  great  scientist  Charles  Darwin; 

4 


THE   NATURE  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

he  it  was  who,  in  1859,  supplied  a  solid  foundation  foi 
the  theory  of  descent,  which  the  able  French  naturalist 
Jean  Lamarck  had  already  sketched  in  its  broad  out- 
lines in  1809,  and  the  fundamental  idea  of  which  had 
been  almost  prophetically  enunciated  in  1799  by  Ger- 
many's greatest  poet  and  thinker,  Wolfgang  Goethe. 
In  that  theory  we  have  the  key  to  "  the  question  of  all 
questions,  "  to  the  great  enigma  of  "  the  place  of  man  in 
nature,"  and  of  his  natural  development.  If  we  are  in 
a  position  to-day  to  recognize  the  sovereignty  of  the 
law  of  evolution — and,  indeed,  of  a  monistic  evolution 
— in  every  province  of  nature,  and  to  use  it,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  law  of  substance,  for  a  simple  interpreta- 
tion of  all  natural  phenomena,  we  owe  it  chiefly  to  those 
three  distinguished  naturalists;  they  shine  as  three 
stars  of  the  first  magnitude  amid  all  the  great  men  of 
the  century. 

This  marvellous  progress  in  a  theoretical  knowledge 
of  nature  has  been  followed  by  a  manifold  practical  ap- 
plication in  every  branch  of  civilized  life.  If  we  are  to- 
day in  the  "  age  of  commerce,"  if  international  trade 
and  communication  have  attained  dimensions  beyond 
the  conception  of  any  previous  age,  if  we  have  tran- 
scended the  limits  of  space  and  time  by  our  telegraph 
and  telephone,  we  owe  it,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  tech- 
nical advancement  of  physics,  especially  in  the  appli- 
cation of  steam  and  electricity.  If,  in  photography, 
we  can,  with  the  utmost  ease,  compel  the  sunbeam  to 
create  for  us  in  a  moment's  time  a  correct  picture  of 
any  object  we  like ;  if  we  have  made  enormous  progress 
in  agriculture,  and  in  a  variety  of  other  pursuits ;  if,  in 
surgery,  we  have  brought  an  infinite  relief  to  human 
pain  by  our  chloroform  and  morphia,  our  antiseptics 
and  serous  therapeutics,  we  owe  it  all  to  applied  chem- 

S 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

istry.  But  it  is  so  well  known  how  much  we  have  sur- 
passed all  earlier  centuries  through  these  and  other  sci- 
entific discoveries  that  we  need  linger  over  the  question 
no  longer. 

While  we  look  back  with  a  just  pride  on  the  immense 
progress  of  the  nineteenth  century  in  a  knowledge  of 
nature  and  in  its  practical  application,  we  find,  unfortu- 
nately, a  very  different  and  far  from  agreeable  picture 
when  we  turn  to  another  and  not  <Hss  important  prov- 
ince of  modern  life.  To  our  great  regret  we  must  en- 
dorse the  words  of  Alfred  Wallace:  "Compared  with 
our  astounding  progress  in  physical  science  and  its 
practical  application,  our  system  of  government,  of  ad- 
ministrative justice,  and  of  national  education,  and  our 
entire  social  and  moral  organization,  remain  in  a  state 
of  barbarism."  To  convince  ourselves  of  the  truth  of 
this  grave  indictment  we  need  only  cast  an  unprejudiced 
glance  at  our  public  life,  or  look  into  the  mirror  that  is 
daily  offered  to  us  by  the  press,  the  organ  of  public  sen- 
timent. 

We  begin  our  review  with  justice,  the  fundamentum 
regnorum.  No  one  can  maintain  that  its  condition  to- 
day is  in  harmony  with  our  advanced  knowledge  of 
man  and  the  world.  Not  a  week  passes  in  which  we 
do  not  read  of  judicial  decisions  over  which  every 
thoughtful  man  shakes  his  head  in  despair;  many  of 
the  decisions  of  our  higher  and  lower  courts  are  simply 
unintelligible.  We  are  not  referring  in  the  treatment 
of  this  particular  "  world-problem  "  to  the  fact  that 
many  modern  states,  in  spite  of  their  paper  constitu- 
tions, are  really  governed  with  absolute  despotism,  and 
that  many  who  occupy  the  bench  give  judgment  less 
in  accordance  with  their  sincere  conviction  than  with 
wishes  expressed  in  higher  quarters.  We  readily  ad- 

6 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

mit  that  the  majority  of  judges  and  counsel  decide  con* 
scientiously,  and  err  simply  from  human  frailty.  Most 
of  their  errors,  indeed,  are  due  to  defective  preparation. 
It  is  popularly  supposed  that  these  are  just  the  men  of 
highest  education,  and  that  on  that  very  account  they 
have  the  preference  in  nominations  to  different  offices. 
However,  this  famed  "  legal  education  "  is  for  the  most 
part  rather  of  a  formal  and  technical  character.  They 
have  but  a  superficlB  acquaintance  with  that  chief  and 
peculiar  object  of  their  activity,  the  human  organism, 
and  its  most  important  function,  the  mind.  That  is  ev- 
ident from  the  curious  views  as  to  the  liberty  of  the  will, 
responsibility,  etc.,  which  we  encounter  daily.  I  once 
told  an  eminent  jurist  that  the  tiny  spherical  ovum  from 
wrhich  every  man  is  developed  is  as  truly  endowed  with 
life  as  the  embryo  of  two,  or  seven,  or  even  nine  months ; 
he  laughed  incredulously.  Most  of  the  students  of  ju- 
risprudence have  no  acquaintance  with  anthropology, 
psychology,  and  the  doctrine  of  evolution — the  very 
first  requisites  for  a  correct  estimate  of  human  nature. 
They  have  "  no  time  "  for  it ;  their  time  is  already  too 
largely  bespoken  for  an  exhaustive  study  of  beer  and 
wine  and  for  the  noble  art  of  fencing.  The  rest  of  their 
valuable  study-time  is  required  for  the  purpose  of  learn- 
ing some  hundreds  of  paragraphs  of  law  books,  a 
knowledge  of  which  is  supposed  to  qualify  the  jurist 
for  any  position  whatever  in  our  modern  civilized  com- 
munity. 

We  shall  touch  but  lightly  on  the  unfortunate  prov- 
ince of  politics,  for  the  unsatisfactory  condition  of  the 
modern  political  world  is  only  too  familiar.  In  a  great 
measure  its  evils  are  due  to  the  fact  that  most  of  our 
officials  are  jurists — that  is,  men  of  high  technical  edu- 
cation, but  utterly  devoid  of  that  thorough  knowledge 

7 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

of  human  nature  which  is  only  obtained  by  the  study 
of  comparative  anthropology  and  the  monistic  psychol- 
ogy— men  without  an  acquaintance  with  those  social 
relations  of  which  we  find  the  earlier  types  in  compara- 
tive zoology  and  the  theory  of  evolution,  in  the  cellular 
theory,  and  the  study  of  the  protists.  We  can  only  ar- 
rive at  a  correct  knowledge  of  the  structure  and  life  of 
the  social  body,  the  state,  through  a  scientific  knowl- 
edge of  the  structure  and  life  of  the  individuals  who 
compose  it,  and  the  cells  of  which  they  are  in  turn  com- 
posed. If  our  political  rulers  and  our  "  representatives 
of  the  people  "  possessed  this  invaluable  biological  and 
anthropological  knowledge,  we  should  not  find  our 
journals  so  full  of  the  sociological  blunders  and  political 
nonsense  which  at  present  are  far  from  adorning  our 
parliamentary  reports,  and  even  many  of  our  official 
documents.  Worst  of  all  is  it  when  the  modern  state 
flings  itself  into  the  arms  of  the  reactionary  Church, 
and  when  the  narrow-minded  self-interest  of  parties 
and  the  infatuation  of  short-sighted  party-leaders  lend 
their  support  to  the  hierarchy.  Then  are  witnessed 
such  sad  scenes  as  the  German  Reichstag  puts  before 
our  eyes  even  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century.  We 
have  the  spectacle  of  the  educated  German  people  in 
the  power  of  the  ultramontane  Centre,  under  the  rule 
of  the  Roman  papacy,  which  is  its  bitterest  and  most 
dangerous  enemy.  Then  superstition  and  stupidity 
reign  instead  of  right  and  reason.  Never  will  our  gov- 
ernment improve  until  it  casts  off  the  fetters  of  the 
Church  and  raises  the  views  of  the  citizens  on  man  and 
the  world  to  a  higher  level  by  a  general  scientific  edu- 
cation. That  does  not  raise  the  question  of  any  special 
form  of  constitution.  Whether  a  monarchy  or  a  re- 
public be  preferable,  whether  the  constitution  should  be 

8 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

aristocratic  or  democratic,  are  subordinate  questions  in 
comparison  with  the  supreme  question :  Shall  the  mod- 
ern civilized  state  be  spiritual  or  secular  ?  Shall  it  be 
theocratic — ruled  by  the  irrational  formulae  of  faith  and 
by  clerical  despotism — or  nomocratic — under  the  sov- 
ereignty of  rational  laws  and  civic  right?  The  first 
task  is  to  kindle  a  rational  interest  in  our  youth,  and  to 
uplift  our  citizens  and  free  them  from  superstition.  That 
can  only  be  achieved  by  a  timely  reform  of  our  schools. 
Our  education  of  the  young  is  no  more  in  harmony 
with  modern  scientific  progress  than  our  legal  and  polit- 
ical world.  Physical  science,  which  is  so  much  more 
important  than  all  other  sciences,  and  which,  properly 
understood,  really  embraces  all  the  so-called  moral 
sciences,  is  still  regarded  as  a  mere  accessory  in  our 
schools,  if  not  treated  as  the  Cinderella  of  the  curricu- 
lum. Most  of  our  teachers  still  give  the  most  prom- 
inent place  to  that  dead  learning  which  has  come  down 
from  the  cloistral  schools  of  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the 
front  rank  we  have  grammatical  gymnastics  and  an 
immense  waste  of  time  over  a  "  thorough  knowledge  " 
of  classics  and  of  the  history  of  foreign  nations.  Ethics, 
the  most  important  object  of  practical  philosophy,  is 
entirely  neglected,  and  its  place  is  usurped  by  the  eccle- 
siastical creed.  Faith  must  take  precedence  over  knowl- 
edge— not  that  scientific  faith  which  leads  to  a  monistic 
religion,  but  the  irrational  superstition  that  lays  the 
foundation  of  a  perverted  Christianity.  The  valuable 
teaching  of  modern  cosmology  and  anthropology,  of 
biology  and  evolution,  is  most  inadequately  imparted, 
if  not  entirely  unknown,  in  our  higher  schools ;  while 
the  memory  is  burdened  with  a  mass  of  philological 
and  historical  facts  which  are  utterly  useless,  either 
from  the  point  of  view  of  theoretical  education  or  for 

9 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

the  practical  purposes  of  life.  Moreover,  the  antiquated 
arrangements  and  the  distribution  of  faculties  in  the 
universities  are  just  as  little  in  harmony  with  the  point 
we  have  reached  in  monistic  science  as  the  curriculum 
of  the  primary  and  secondary  schools. 

The  climax  of  the  opposition  to  modern  education  and 
its  foundation,  advanced  natural  philosophy,  is  reached, 
of  course,  in  the  Church.  We  are  not  speaking  here  of 
ultramontane  papistry,  nor  of  the  orthodox  evangel- 
ical tendencies,  which  do  not  fall  far  short  of  it  in  igno- 
rance and  in  the  crass  superstition  of  their  dogmas.  We 
are  imagining  ourselves  for  the  moment  to  be  in  the 
church  of  a  liberal  Protestant  minister,  who  has  a  good 
average  education,  and  who  finds  room  for  "  the  rights 
of  reason  "  by  the  side  of  his  faith.  There,  besides  ex- 
cellent moral  teaching,  which  is  in  perfect  harmony  with 
our  own  monistic  ethics,  and  humanitarian  discussion 
of  which  we  cordially  approve,  we  hear  ideas  on  the 
nature  of  God,  of  the  world,  of  man,  and  of  life  which 
are  directly  opposed  to  all  scientific  experience.  It  is 
no  wonder  that  physicists  and  chemists,  doctors  and 
philosophers,  who  have  made  a  thorough  study  of  nat- 
ure, refuse  a  hearing  to  such  preachers.  Our  theo- 
logians and  our  politicians  are  just  as  ignorant  as  our 
philosophers  and  our  jurists  of  that  elementary  knowl- 
edge of  nature  which  is  based  on  the  monistic  theory  of 
evolution,  and  which  is  already  far  exceeded  in  the  tri- 
umph of  our  modern  learning. 

From  this  opposition,  which  we  can  only  briefly  point 
out  at  present,  there  arise  grave  conflicts  in  our  modern 
life  which  urgently  demand  a  settlement.  Our  modern 
education,  the  outcome  of  our  great  advance  in  knowl- 
edge, has  a  claim  upon  every  department  of  public  and 
private  life;  it  would  see  humanity  raised,  by  the  in- 

10 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

strumentality  of  reason,  to  that  higher  grade  of  culture, 
and,  consequently,  to  that  better  path  towards  happi- 
ness which  has  been  opened  out  to  us  by  the  progress 
of  modern  science.  That  aim,  however,  is  vigorously 
opposed  by  the  influential  parties  who  would  detain  the 
mind  in  trie  exploded  views  of  the  Middle  Ages  with  re- 
gard to  the  most  important  problems  of  life ;  they  linger 
in  the  fold  of  traditional  dogma,  and  would  have  reason 
prostrate  itself  before  their  "  higher  revelation."  That 
is  the  condition  of  things,  to  a  very  large  extent,  in  the- 
ology and  philosophy,  in  sociology  and  jurisprudence. 
It  is  not  that  the  motives  of  the  latter  are  to  be  attributed, 
as  a  rule,  to  pure  self-interest ;  they  spring  partly  from 
ignorance  of  the  facts,  and  partly  from  an  indolent  ac- 
quiescence in  tradition.  The  most  dangerous  of  the 
three  great  enemies  of  reason  and  knowledge  is  not 
malice,  but  ignorance,  or,  perhaps,  indolence.  The 
gods  themselves  still  strive  in  vain  against  these  two 
latter  influences  when  they  have  happily  vanquished 
the  first. 

One  of  the  main  supports  of  that  reactionary  system 
is  still  what  we  may  call  "  anthropism."  I  designate  by 
this  term  "  that  powerful  and  world-wide  group  of  erro- 
neous opinions  which  opposes  the  human  organism  to 
the  whole  of  the  rest  of  nature,  and  represents  it  to  be 
the  preordained  end  of  the  organic  creation,  an  entity 
essentially  distinct  from  it,  a  godlike  being."  Closer 
examination  of  this  group  of  ideas  shows  it  to  be  made 
up  of  three  different  dogmas,  which  we  may  distinguish 
as  the  anthropocentric,  the  anthropomorphic,  and  the 
anthropolatrous* 

I.  The  anthropocentric  dogma  culminates  in  the  idea 

*E.  Haeckel,  S ystematische  Phylogenie,  1895,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  646-50. 
(Anthropolatry  means  *  A  divine  worship  of  human  nature.") 

II 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

that  man  is  the  preordained  centre  and  aim  of  all  ter- 
restrial life — or,  in  a  wider  sense,  of  the  whole  universe. 
As  this  error  is  extremely  conducive  to  man's  interest, 
and  as  it  is  intimately  connected  with  the  creation-myth 
of  the  three  great  Mediterranean  religions,  and  with  the 
dogmas  of  the  Mosaic,  Christian,  and  Mohammedan 
theologies,  it  still  dominates  the  greater  part  of  the  civ- 
ilized world. 

II.  The  anthropomorphic  dogma  is  likewise  connected 
with  the  creation-myth  of  the  three  aforesaid  religions, 
and  of  many  others.     It  likens  the  creation  and  control 
of  the  world  by  God  to  the  artificial  creation  of  a  tal- 
ented engineer  or  mechanic,  and  to  the  administration 
of  a  wise  ruler.     God,  as  creator,  sustainer,  and  ruler 
of  the  world,  is  thus  represented  after  a  purely  human 
fashion  in  his  thought  and  work.     Hence  it  follows,  in 
turn,  that  man  is  godlike.     *  God  made-  man  to  His 
own  image  and  likeness. "    The  older,  naive  mythology 
is  pure  "  homotheism,"  attributing  human  shape,  flesh, 
and  blood  to  the  gods.     It  is  more  intelligible  than  the 
modern  mystic  theosophy  that  adores  a  personal  God 
as  an  invisible — properly  speaking,  gaseous — being, 
yet  makes  him  think,  speak,  and  act  in  human  fashion ; 
it  gives  us  the  paradoxical  picture  of  a  "  gaseous  verte- 
brate." 

III.  The  anthropolatric  dogma  naturally  results  from 
this  comparison  of  the  activity  of  God  and  man ;  it  ends 
in  the  apotheosis  of  the  human  organism.     A  further 
result  is  the  belief  in  the  personal  immortality  of  the 
soul,  and  the  dualistic  dogma  of  the  twofold  nature  of 
man,  whose  "immortal  soul"  is  conceived  as  but  the 
temporary  inhabitant  of  the  mortal  frame.     Thus  these 
three  anthropistic  dogmas,  variously  adapted  to  the  re- 
spective professions  of  the  different  religions,  came  at 

12 


THE    NATURE    OF   THE    PROBLEM 

length  to  be  vested  with  an  extraordinary  importance, 
and  proved  the  source  of  the  most  dangerous  errors. 
The  anthropistic  view  of  the  world  which  springs  from 
them  is  in  irreconcilable  opposition  to  our  monistic  sys- 
tem ;  indeed,  it  is  at  once  disproved  by  our  new  cosmo- 
logical  perspective. 

Not  only  the  three  anthropistic  dogmas,  but  many 
other  notions  of  the  dualistic  philosophy  and  orthodox 
religion,  are  found  to  be  untenable  as  soon  as  we  regard 
them  critically  from  the  cosmological  perspective  of  our 
monistic  system.  We  understand  by  that  the  compre- 
hensive view  of  the  universe  which  we  have  from  the 
highest  point  of  our  monistic  interpretation  of  nature. 
From  that  stand-point  we  see  the  truth  of  the  following 
"cosmological  theorems/'  most  of  which,  in  our  opin- 
ion, have  already  been  amply  demonstrated : 

(i)  The  universe,  or  the  cosmos,  is  eternal,  infinite, 
and  illimitable.  (2)  Its  substance,  with  its  two  attri- 
butes (matter  and  energy),  fills  infinite  space,  and  is  in 
eternal  motion.  (3)  This  motion  runs  on  through  in- 
finite time  as  an  unbroken  development,  with  a  peri- 
odic change  from  life  to  death,  from  evolution  to  devo- 
lution. (4)  The  innumerable  bodies  which  are  scat- 
tered about  the  space-filling  ether  all  obey  the  same 
"  law  of  substance;"  while  the  rotating  masses  slowly 
move  towards  their  destruction  and  dissolution  in  one 
part  of  space  others  are  springing  into  new  life  and 
development  in  other  quarters  of  the  universe.  (5)  Our 
sun  is  one  of  these  unnumbered  perishable  bodies,  and 
our  earth  is  one  of  the  countless  transitory  planets  that 
encircle  them.  (6)  Our  earth  has  gone  through  a  long 
process  of  cooling  before  water,  in  liquid  form  (the  first 
condition  of  organic  life),  could  settle  thereon.  (7)  The 
ensuing  biogenetic  process,  the  slow  development  and 

13 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

transformation  of  countless  organic  forms,  must  have 
taken  many  millions  of  years — considerably  over  a  hun- 
dred.* (8)  Among  the  different  kinds  of  animals  which 
arose  in  the  later  stages  of  the  biogenetic  process  on 
earth  the  vertebrates  have  far  outstripped  all  other  com- 
petitors in  the  evolutionary  race.  (9)  The  most  impor- 
tant branch  of  the  vertebrates,  the  mammals,  were  de- 
veloped later  (during  the  triassic  period)  from  the  lower 
amphibia  and  the  reptilia.  (10)  The  most  perfect  and 
most  highly  developed  branch  of  the  class  mammalia 
is  the  order  of  primates,  which  first  put  in  an  appear- 
ance, by  development  from  the  lowest  prochoriata,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Tertiary  period — at  least  three  mill- 
ion years  ago.  (n)  The  youngest  and  most  perfect 
twig  of  the  branch  primates  is  man,  who  sprang  from 
a  series  of  manlike  apes  towards  the  end  of  the  Tertiary 
period.  (12)  Consequently,  the  so-called  history  of  the 
world  " — that  is,  the  brief  period  of  a  few  thousand 
years  which  measures  the  duration  of  civilization — is 
an  evanescently  short  episode  in  the  long  course  of  or- 
ganic evolution,  just  as  this,  in  turn,  is  merely  a  small 
portion  of  the  history  of  our  planetary  system ;  and  as 
our  mother-earth  is  a  mere  speck  in  the  sunbeam  in  the 
illimitable  universe,  so  man  himself  is  but  a  tiny  grain 
of  protoplasm  in  the  perishable  framework  of  organic 
nature. 

Nothing  seems  to  me  better  adapted  than  this  mag- 
nificent cosmological  perspective  to  give  us  the  proper 
standard  and  the  broad  outlook  which  we  need  in  the 
solution  of  the  vast  enigmas  that  surround  us.  It  not 
only  clearly  indicates  the  true  place  of  man  in  nature, 
but  it  dissipates  the  prevalent  illusion  of  man's  supreme 

*  Cf .  my  Cambridge  lecture,  The  Last  Link,  "  Geological  Time 
and  Evolution." 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

importance,  and  the  arrogance  with  which  he  sets  him- 
self apart  from  the  illimitable  universe,  and  exalts  him- 
self to  the  position  of  its  most  valuable  element.  This 
boundless  presumption  of  conceited  man  has  misled 
him  into  making  himself  "  the  image  of  God,"  claiming 
an  "  eternal  life  "  for  his  ephemeral  personality,  and 
imagining  that  he  possesses  unlimited  "freedom  of 
will."  The  ridiculous  imperial  folly  of  Caligula  is  but 
a  special  form  of  man's  arrogant  assumption  of  divin- 
ity. Only  when  we  have  abandoned  this  untenable 
illusion,  and  taken  up  the  correct  cosmological  perspec- 
tive, can  we  hope  to  reach  the  solution  of  the  "  riddles 
of  the  universe." 

The  uneducated  member  of  a  civilized  community  is 
surrounded  with  countless  enigmas  at  every  step,  just 
as  truly  as  the  savage.  Their  number,  however,  de- 
creases with  every  stride  of  civilization  and  of  science ; 
and  the  monistic  philosophy  is  ultimately  confronted 
with  but  one  simple  and  comprehensive  enigma — the 
"  problem  of  substance."  Still,  we  may  find  it  useful 
to  include  a  certain  number  of  problems  under  that  title. 
In  the  famous  speech  which  Emil  du  Bois-Reymond  de- 
livered in  1880,  in  the  Leibnitz  session  of  the  Berlin  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences,  he  distinguished  seven  world-enigmas, 
which  he  enumerated  as  follows:  (i)  The  nature  of 
matter  and  force.  (2)  The  origin  of  motion.  (3)  The 
origin  of  life.  (4)  The  (apparently  preordained)  or- 
derly arrangement  of  nature.  (5)  The  origin  of  simple 
sensation  and  consciousness.  (6)  Rational  thought, 
and  the  origin  of  the  cognate  faculty,  speech.  (7)  The 
question  of  the  freedom  of  the  will.  Three  of  these  sev- 
en enigmas  are  considered  by  the  orator  of  the  Berlin 
Academy  to  be  entirely  transcendental  and  insoluble 
— they  are  the  first,  second,  and  fifth;  three  others 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

(the  third,  fourth,  and  sixth)  he  considers  to  be  capable 
of  solution,  though  extremely  difficult;  as  to  the  sev- 
enth and  last  "  world-enigma/'  the  freedom  of  the  will, 
which  is  the  one  of  the  greatest  practical  importance, 
he  remains  undecided. 

As  my  monism  differs  materially  from  that  of  the  Ber- 
lin orator,  and  as  his  idea  of  the  "  seven  great  enigmas  " 
has  been  very  widely  accepted,  it  may  be  useful  to  indi- 
cate their  true  position  at  once.  In  my  opinion,  the 
three  transcendental  problems  (i,  2,  and  5)  are  settled 
by  our  conception  of  substance  (vide  chap,  xii.) ;  the 
three  which  he  considers  difficult,  though  soluble,  (3,  4, 
and  6),  are  decisively  answered  by  our  modern  theory 
of  evolution ;  the  seventh  and  last,  the  freedom  of  the 
will,  is  not  an  object  for  critical,  scientific  inquiry  at  all, 
for  it  is  a  pure  dogma,  based  on  an  illusion,  and  has  no 
real  existence. 

The  means  and  methods  we  have  chosen  for  attain- 
ing the  solution  of  the  great  enigma  do  not  differ,  on 
the  whole,  from  those  of  all  purely  scientific  investiga- 
tion— firstly,  experience;  secondly,  inference.  Scien- 
tific experience  comes  to  us  by  observation  and  experi- 
ment, which  involve  the  activity  of  our  sense-organs  in 
the  first  place,  and,  secondly,  of  the  inner  sense-centres 
in  the  cortex  of  the  brain.  The  microscopic  elementary 
organs  of  the  former  are  the  sense-cells ;  of  the  latter, 
groups  of  ganglionic  cells.  The  experiences  which  we 
derive  from  the  outer  world  by  these  invaluable  instru- 
ments of  our  mental  life  are  then  moulded  into  ideas  by 
other  parts  of  the  brain,  and  these,  in  their  turn,  are 
united  in  a  chain  of  reasoning  by  association.  The  con- 
struction of  this  chain  may  take  place  in  two  different 
ways,  which  are,  in  my  opinion,  equally  valuable  and 
indispensable:  induction  and  deduction.  The  higher 

16 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

cerebral  operations,  the  construction  of  complicated 
chains  of  reasoning,  abstraction,  the  formation  of  con- 
cepts, the  completion  of  the  perceptive  faculty  by  the 
plastic  faculty  of  the  imagination — in  a  word,  conscious- 
ness, thought,  and  speculation — are  functions  of  the 
ganglionic  cells  of  the  cortex  of  the  brain,  just  like  the 
preceding  simpler  mental  functions.  We  unite  them 
all  in  the  supreme  concept  of  reason* 

By  reason  only  can  we  attain  to  a  correct  knowledge 
of  the  world  and  a  solution  of  its  great  problems.  Rea- 
son is  man's  highest  gift,  the  only  prerogative  that  es- 
sentially distinguishes  him  from  the  lower  animals. 
Nevertheless,  it  has  only  reached  this  high  position  by 
the  progress  of  culture  and  education,  by  the  develop- 
ment of  knowledge.  The  uneducated  man  and  the  sav- 
age are  just  as  little  (or  just  as  much)  "rational"  as 
our  nearest  relatives  among  the  mammals  (apes,  dogs, 
elephants,  etc.).  Yet  the  opinion  still  obtains  in  many 
quarters  that,  besides  our  godlike  reason,  we  have  two 
further  (and  even  surer !)  methods  of  receiving  knowl- 
edge— emotion  and  revelation.  We  must  at  once  dis- 
pose of  this  dangerous  error.  Emotion  has  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  the  attainment  of  truth.  That 
which  we  prize  under  the  name  of  "emotion"  is  an 
elaborate  activity  of  the  brain,  which  consists  of  feel- 
ings of  like  and  dislike,  motions  of  assent  and  dissent, 
impulses  of  desire  and  aversion.  It  may  be  influenced 
by  the  most  diverse  activities  of  the  organism,  by  the 
cravings  of  the  senses  and  the  muscles,  the  stomach, 
the  sexual  organs,  etc.  The  interests  of  truth  are  far 
from  promoted  by  these  conditions  and  vacillations  of 
emotion ;  on  the  contrary,  such  circumstances  often  dis- 

*  As  to  induction  and  deduction,  vide  The  Natural  History  of 
Creation. 

17 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

turb  that  reason  which  alone  is  adapted  to  the  pursuit 
of  truth,  and  frequently  mar  its  perceptive  power.  No 
cosmic  problem  is  solved,  or  even  advanced,  by  the  cere- 
bral function  we  call  emotion.  And  the  same  must  be 
said  of  the  so-called  "revelation/'  and  of  the  " truths 
of  faith"  which  it  is  supposed  to  communicate;  they 
are  based  entirely  on  a  deception,  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, as  we  shall  see  in  the  sixteenth  chapter. 

We  must  welcome  as  one  of  the  most  fortunate  steps 
in  the  direction  of  a  solution  of  the  great  cosmic  prob- 
lems the  fact  that  of  recent  years  there  is  a  growing 
tendency  to  recognize  the  two  paths  which  alone  lead 
thereto — experience  and  thought,  or  speculation — to  be 
of  equal  value,  and  mutually  complementary.  Phi- 
losophers have  come  to  see  that  pure  speculation- 
such,  for  instance,  as  Plato  and  Hegel  employed  for 
the  construction  of  their  idealist  systems — does  not 
lead  to  knowledge  of  reality.  On  the  other  hand,  sci- 
entists have  been  convinced  that  mere  experience — 
such  as  Bacon  and  Mill,  for  example,  made  the  basis 
of  their  realist  systems — is  insufficient  of  itself  for  a 
complete  philosophy.  For  these  two  great  paths  of 
knowledge,  sense-experience  and  rational  thought,  are 
two  distinct  cerebral  functions;  the  one  is  elaborated 
by  the  sense-organs  and  the  inner  sense-centres,  the 
other  by  the  thought-centres,  the  great  "centres  of 
association  in  the  cortex  of  the  brain/'  which  lie  be- 
tween the  sense  -  centres.  (Cf.  cc.  vii.  and  x.)  True 
knowledge  is  only  acquired  by  combining  the  activity 
of  the  two.  Nevertheless,  there  are  still  many  philos- 
ophers who  would  construct  the  world  out  of  their 
own  inner  consciousness,  and  who  reject  our  empirical 
science  precisely  because  they  have  no  knowledge  of 
the  real  world.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  many 

18 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

scientists  who  still  contend  that  the  sole  object  of  sci- 
ence is  "  the  knowledge  of  facts,  the  objective  investi- 
gation of  isolated  phenomena  ";  that  "  the  age  of  phi- 
losophy "  is  past,  and  science  has  taken  its  place.*  This 
one-sided  over-estimation  of  experience  is  as  dangerous 
an  error  as  the  converse  exaggeration  of  the  value  of 
speculation.  Both  channels  of  knowledge  are  mutual- 
ly indispensable.  The  greatest  triumphs  of  modern 
science — the  cellular  theory,  the  dynamic  theory  of 
heat,  the  theory  of  evolution,  and  the  law  of  substance 
— are  philosophic  achievements ;  not,  however,  the  fruit 
of  pure  speculation,  but  of  an  antecedent  experience  of 
the  widest  and  most  searching  character. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
great  idealistic  poet,  Schiller,  gave  his  counsel  to  both 
groups  of  combatants,  the  philosophers  and  the  sci- 
entists : 

"  Does  strife  divide  your  efforts — no  union  bless  your  toil  ? 
Will  truth  e'er  be  delivered  if  ye  your  forces  rend  ?" 

Since  then  the  situation  has,  happily,  been  profoundly 
modified;  while  both  schools,  in  their  different  paths, 
have  pressed  onward  towards  the  same  high  goal, 
they  have  recognized  their  common  aspiration,  and 
they  draw  nearer  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  in  mutual 
covenant.  At  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  we 
have  returned  to  that  monistic  attitude  which  our 
greatest  realistic  poet,  Goethe,  had  recognized  from  its 
very  commencement  to  be  alone  correct  and  fruitful.^ 

*  Rudolph  Virchow,  Die  Grundung  der  Berliner  Universitdt  und 
der  Uebergang  aus  dent  philosophischen  in  das  naturwissenschaft- 
liche  Zeitalter.  (Berlin ;  1893.) 

f  Cf .  chap.  iv.  of  my  General  Morphology,  1866 ;  Kritik  der 
natururissenschaftlichen  Methoden. 

'9 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

All  the  different  philosophical  tendencies  may,  from 
the  point  of  view  of  modern  science,  be  ranged  in  two 
antagonistic  groups;  they  represent  either  a  dualistic 
or  a  monistic  interpretation  of  the  cosmos.  The  for- 
mer is  usually  bound  up  with  teleological  and  idealis- 
tic dogmas,  the  latter  with  mechanical  and  realistic 
theories.  Dualism,  in  the  widest  sense,  breaks  up  the 
universe  into  two  entirely  distinct  substances  —  the 
material  world  and  an  immaterial  God,  who  is  repre- 
sented to  be  its  creator,  sustainer,  and  ruler.  Monism, 
on  the  contrary  (likewise  taken  in  its  widest  sense), 
recognizes  one  sole  substance  in  the  universe,  which 
is  at  once  *  God  and  nature  " ;  body  and  spirit  (or  mat- 
ter and  energy)  it  holds  to  be  inseparable.  The  extra- 
mundane  God  of  dualism  leads  necessarily  to  theism; 
and  the  intra-mundane  God  of  the  monist  leads  to 
pantheism. 

The  different  ideas  of  monism  and  materialism,  and 
likewise  the  essentially  distinct  tendencies  of  theoreti- 
cal and  practical  materialism,  are  still  very  frequently 
confused.  As  this  and  other  similar  cases  of  confu- 
sion of  ideas  are  very  prejudicial,  .and  give  rise  to  in- 
numerable errors,  we  shall  make  the  following  brief 
observations,  in  order  to  prevent  misunderstanding : 

I.  Pure  monism  is  identical  neither  with  the  theo- 
retical materialism  that  denies  the  existence  of  spirit, 
and  dissolves  the  world  into  a  heap  of  dead  atoms,  nor 
with  the  theoretical  spiritualism  (lately  entitled  "  ener- 
getic "  spiritualism  by  Ostwald)  which  rejects  the  no- 
tion of  matter,  and  considers  the  world  to  be  a  specially 
arranged  group  of  "  energies "  or  immaterial  natural 
forces. 

II.  On  the  contrary,   we  hold,   with  Goethe,   that 
"matter  cannot  exist  and  be  operative  without  spirit, 

20 


THE   NATURE    OF   THE   PROBLEM 

nor  spirit  without  matter."  We  adhere  firmly  to  the 
pure,  unequivocal  monism  of  Spinoza:  Matter,  or  in- 
finitely extended  substance,  and  spirit  (or  energy),  or 
sensitive  and  thinking  substance,  are  the  two  funda- 
mental attributes  or  principal  properties  of  the  all- 
embracing  divine  essence  of  the  world,  the  universal 
substance.  (Cf.  chap,  xii.i 


CHAPTER  II 
OUR    BODILY    FRAME 

Fundamental  Importance  of  Anatomy — Human  Anatomy — Hip- 
pocrates, Aristotle,  Galen,  Vesalius — Comparative  Anatomy 
— Georges  Cuvier — Johannes  Miiller — Karl  Gegenbaur — His- 
tology—The Cellular  Theory— Schleiden  and  Schwann— Kol- 
liker — Virchow — Man  a  Vertebrate,  a  Tetrapod,  a  Mammal, 
a  Placental,  a  Primate — Prosimiae  and  Simise — The  Catar- 
rhinse — Papiomorphic  and  Anthropomorphic  Apes — Essential 
Likeness  of  Man  and  the  Ape  in  Corporal  Structure. 

A  LL  biological  research,  all  investigation  into  the 
**  forms  and  vital  activities  of  organisms,  must 
first  deal  with  the  visible  body,  in  which  the  mor- 
phological and  physiological  phenomena  are  ob- 
served. This  fundamental  rule  holds  good  for  man 
just  as  much  as  for  all  other  living  things.  More- 
over, the  inquiry  must  not  confine  itself  to  mere  ob- 
servation of  the  outer  form;  it  must  penetrate  to  the 
interior,  and  study  both  the  general  plan  and  the  mi- 
nute details  of  the  structure.  The  science  which  pur- 
sues this  fundamental  investigation  in  the  broadest 
sense  is  anatomy. 

The  first  stimulus  to  an  inquiry  into  the  human 
frame  arose,  naturally,  in  medicine.  As  it  was  usually 
practised  by  the  priests  in  the  older  civilizations,  we 
may  assume  that  these  highest  representatives  of  the 
education  of  the  time  had  already  acquired  a  certain 

22 


OUR   BODILY   FRAME 

amount  of  anatomical  knowledge  two  thousand  years 
before  Christ,  or  even  earlier.  We  do  not,  however, 
find  more  exact  observations,  founded  on  the  dissection 
of  mammals,  and  applied,  by  analogy,  to  the  human 
frame,  until  we  come  to  the  Greek  scientists  of  the  sixth 
and  fifth  centuries  before  Christ — Empedocles  (of  Ag- 
rigentum)  and  Democritus  (of  Abdera),  and  especially 
the  most  famous  physician  of  classic  antiquity,  Hip- 
pocrates (of  Cos).  It  was  from  these  and  other  sources 
that  the  great  Aristotle,  the  renowned  "  father  of  natural 
history,"  equally  comprehensive  as  investigator  and 
philosopher,  derived  his  first  knowledge.  After  him 
only  one  anatomist  of  any  consequence  is  found  in  an- 
tiquity, the  Greek  physician  Claudius  Galenus  (of  Per- 
gamus),  who  developed  a  wealthy  practice  in  Rome  in 
the  second  century  after  Christ,  under  the  Emperor 
Marcus  Aurelius.  All  these  ancient  anatomists  ac- 
quired their  knowledge,  as  a  rule,  not  by  the  dissection 
of  the  human  body  itself — which  was  then  sternly  for- 
bidden— but  by  a  study  of  the  bodies  of  the  animals 
which  most  closely  resembled  man,  especially  the  apes ; 
they  were  all,  indeed,  comparative  anatomists. 

The  triumph  of  Christianity  and  its  mystic  theories 
meant  retrogression  to  anatomy,  as  it  did  to  all  the  other 
sciences.  The  popes  were  resolved  above  all  things  to 
detain  humanity  in  ignorance ;  they  rightly  deemed  a 
knowledge  of  the  human  organism  to  be  a  dangerous 
source  of  enlightenment  as  to  our  true  nature.  During 
the  long  period  of  thirteen  centuries  the  writings  of  Ga- 
len were  almost  the  only  source  of  human  anatomy, 
just  as  the  works  of  Aristotle  were  for  the  whole  of  nat- 
ural history.  It  was  not  until  the  sixteenth  century, 
when  the  spiritual  tyranny  of  the  papacy  was  broken 
by  the  Reformation,  and  the  geocentric  theory,  so  in- 

23 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

timately  connected  with  papal  doctrine,  was  destroyed 
by  the  new  cosmic  system  of  Copernicus,  that  the 
knowledge  of  the  human  frame  entered  upon  a  new  pe- 
riod of  progress.  The  great  anatomists,  Vesalius  (of 
Brussels),  and  Eustachius  and  Fallopius  (of  Modena), 
advanced  the  knowledge  of  our  bodily  structure  so  much 
by  their  own  thorough  investigations  that  little  re- 
mained for  their  numerous  followers  to  do,  with  regard 
to  the  more  obvious  phenomena,  except  the  substantia- 
tion of  details.  Andreas  Vesalius,  as  courageous  as 
he  was  talented  and  indefatigable,  was  the  pioneer  of 
the  movement ;  he  completed  in  his  twenty-eighth  year 
(1543)  that  great  and  systematic  work  De  humani  cor- 
poris  fabrica;  he  gave  to  the  whole  of  human  anat- 
omy a  new  and  independent  scope  and  a  more  solid 
foundation.  On  that  account  he  was,  at  a  later  date, 
at  Madrid — where  he  was  physician  to  Charles  V.  and 
Philip  II. — condemned  to  death  by  the  Inquisition  as 
a  magician.  He  only  escaped  by  undertaking  a  pil- 
grimage to  Jerusalem;  in  returning  he  suffered  ship- 
wreck on  the  Isle  of  Zante,  and  died  there  in  misery  and 
destitution. 

The  great  merit  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as  far  as 
our  knowledge  of  the  human  frame  is  concerned,  lies  in 
the  founding  of  two  new  lines  of  research  of  immense 
importance — comparative  anatomy  and  histology,  or 
microscopic  anatomy.  The  former  was  intimately  as- 
sociated with  human  anatomy  from  the  very  beginning ; 
indeed,  it  had  to  supply  the  place  of  the  latter  so  long 
because  the  dissection  of  human  corpses  was  a  crime 
visited  with  capital  punishment — that  was  the  case  even 
in  the  fifteenth  century !  But  the  many  anatomists  of 
the  next  three  centuries  devoted  themselves  mainly  to 
a  more  accurate  study  of  the  human  organism.  The 


OUR    BODILY   FRAME 

elaborate  science  which  we  now  call  comparative  anat« 
omy  was  born  in  the  year  1803,  when  the  great  French 
zoologist  Georges  Cuvier  (a  native  of  Mompelgard,  in 
Alsace)  published  his  profound  Lemons  sur  I'anatomie 
comparee,  and  endeavored  to  formulate,  for  the  first 
time,  definite  laws  as  to  the  organism  of  man  and  the 
beasts.  While  his  predecessors — among  whom  was. 
Goethe  in  1790 — had  mainly  contented  themselves  with 
comparing  the  skeleton  of  man  with  those  of  other  ani- 
mals, Cuvier's  broader  vision  took  in  the  whole  of  the 
animal  organization.  He  distinguished  therein  four 
great  and  mutually  independent  types :  Vertebrata,  Ar- 
ticulata,  Mollusca,  and  Radiata.  This  advance  was 
of  extreme  consequence  for  our  "  question  of  all  ques- 
tions," since  it  clearly  brought  out  the  fact  that  man 
belonged  to  the  vertebral  type,  and  differed  fundamen 
tally  from  all  the  other  types.  It  is  true  that  the  keen- 
sighted  Linne  had  already,  in  his  Systema  Naturae, 
made  a  great  step  in  advance  by  assigning  man  a  defi- 
nite place  in  the  class  of  mammals ;  he  had  even  drawn 
up  the  three  groups  of  half -apes,  apes,  and  men  (Lemur, 
simia,  and  homo)  in  the  order  of  primates.  But  his 
keen,  systematic  mind  was  not  furnished  with  that  pro- 
found empirical  foundation,  supplied  by  comparative 
anatomy,  which  Cuvier  was  the  first  to  attain.  Fur- 
ther developments  were  added  by  the  great  comparative 
anatomists  of  our  own  century — Friedrich  Meckel 
(Halle),  Johannes  Miiller  (Berlin),  Richard  Owen,  T. 
Huxley,  and  Karl  Gegenbaur  (Jena,  subsequently  Hei- 
delberg). The  last-named,  in  applying  the  evolution- 
ary theory,  which  Darwin  had  just  established,  to  com- 
parative anatomy,  raised  his  science  to  the  front  rank 
of  biological  studies.  The  numerous  comparative  an- 
atomical works  of  Gegenbaur  are,  like  his  well-known 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

Manual  of  Hitman  Anatomy,  equally  distinguished 
by  a  thorough  empirical  acquaintance  with  their  im- 
mense multitudes  of  facts,  and  by  a  comprehensive  con- 
trol of  his  material,  and  its  philosophic  appreciation  in 
the  evolutionary  sense.  His  recent  Comparative  An- 
atomy of  the  Vertebrata  establishes  the  solid  foundation 
on  which  our  conviction  of  the  vertebral  character  of 
man  in  every  aspect  is  chiefly  based. 

Microscopic  anatomy  has  been  developed,  in  the 
course  of  the  present  century,  in  a  very  different  fash- 
ion from  comparative  anatomy.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  century  (1802)  a  French  physician,  Bichat,  made  an 
attempt  to  dissect  the  organs  of  the  human  body  into 
their  finer  constituents  by  the  aid  of  the  microscope, 
and  to  show  the  connection  of  these  various  tissues 
(hista,  or  tela).  This  first  attempt  led  to  little  result, 
because  the  scientist  was  ignorant  of  the  one  common 
element  of  all  the  different  tissues.  This  was  first  dis- 
covered (1838)  in  the  shape  of  the  cell,  in  the  plant 
world,  by  Matthias  Schleiden,  and  immediately,  after- 
wards proved  to  be  the  same  in  the  animal  world  by 
Theodor  Schwann,  the  pupil  and  assistant  of  Jo- 
hannes M tiller  at  Berlin.  Two  other  distinguished 
pupils  of  this  great  master,  who  are  still  living,  Albert 
Kolliker  and  Rudolph  Virchow,  took  up  the  cellular 
theory,  and  the  theory  of  tissues  which  is  founded  on 
it,  in  the  sixties,  and  applied  them  to  the  human  or- 
ganism in  all  its  details,  both  in  health  and  disease; 
they  proved  that,  in  man  and  all  other  animals,  every 
tissue  is  made  up  of  the  same  microscopic  particles, 
Ihe  cells,  and  these  "elementary  organisms"  are  the 
real,  self -active  citizens  which,  in  combinations  of  mill- 
ions, constitute  the  "  cellular  state,"  our  body.  All  these 
spring  from  one  simple  cell,  the  cytula,  or  im- 
26 


OUR   BODILY   FRAME 

pregnated  ovum,  by  continuous  subdivision.  The  gen* 
eral  structure  and  combination  of  the  tissues  are  the 
same  in  man  as  in  the  other  vertebrates.  Among 
these  the  mammals,  the  youngest  and  most  highly 
developed  class  take  precedence,  in  virtue  of  certain 
special  features  which  were  acquired  late.  Such  are, 
for  instance,  the  microscopic  texture  of  the  hair,  of  the 
glands  of  the  skin,  and  of  the  breasts,  and  the  corpus- 
cles of  the  blood,  which  are  quite  peculiar  to  mam- 
mals, and  different  from  those  of  the  other  verte- 
brates; man,  even  in  these  finest  histological  rela- 
tions, is  a  true  mammal. 

The  microscopic  researches  of  Albert  Kolliker  and 
Franz  Leydig  (at  Wurzburg)  not  only  enlarged  our 
knowledge  of  the  finer  structure  of  man  and  the  beasts 
in  every  direction,  but  they  were  especially  important 
in  the  light  of  their  connection  with  the  evolution  of 
the  cell  and  the  tissue ;  they  confirmed  the  great  theory 
of  Carl  Theodor  Siebold  (1845)  that  the  lowest  animals, 
the  Infusoria  and  the  Rhizopods,  are  unicellular  or- 
ganisms. 

Our  whole  frame,  both  in  its  general  plan  and  its 
detailed  structure,  presents  the  characteristic  type  of 
the  vertebrates.  This  most  important  and  most  high- 
ly developed  group  in  the  animal  world  was  first  recog- 
nized in  its  natural  unity  in  1801  by  the  great  La- 
marck; he  embraced  under  that  title  the  four  higher 
animal  groups  of  Linne" — mammals,  birds,  amphibia, 
and  fishes.  To  these  he  opposed  the  two  lower  classes, 
insects  and  worms,  as  invertebrates.  Cuvier  (1812) 
established  the  unity  of  the  vertebrate  type  on  a  firmer 
basis  by  his  comparative  anatomy.  It  is  quite  true 
that  all  the  vertebrates,  from  the  fish  up  to  man,  agree 
in  every  essential  feature;  they  all  have  a  firm  inter- 

27 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

nal  skeleton,  a  framework  of  cartilage  and  bone,  con- 
sisting principally  of  a  vertebral  column  and  a  skull ; 
the  advanced  construction  of  the  latter  presents  many 
variations,  but,  on  the  whole,  all  may  be  reduced  to 
the  same  fundamental  type.  Further,  in  all  verte- 
brates the  "organ  of  the  mind,"  the  central  nervous 
system,  in  the  shape  of  a  spinal  cord  and  a  brain,  lies 
at  the  back  of  this  axial  skeleton.  Moreover,  what 
we  said  of  its  bony  environment,  the  skull,  is  also 
true  of  the  brain — the  instrument  of  consciousness  and 
all  the  higher  functions  of  the  mind;  its  construction 
and  size  present  very  many  variations  in  detail,  but 
its  general  characteristic  structure  remains  always  the 
same. 

We  meet  the  same  phenomenon  when  we  compare 
the  rest  of  our  organs  with  those  of  the  other  verte- 
brates ;  everywhere,  in  virtue  of  heredity,  the  original 
plan  and  the  relative  distribution  of  the  organs  remain 
the  same,  although,  through  adaptation  to  different 
environments,  the  size  and  the  structure  of  particular 
sections  offer  considerable  variation.  Thus  we  find 
that  in  all  cases  the  blood  circulates  in  two  main  blood- 
vessels, of  which  one — the  aorta — passes  over  the  in- 
testine, and  the  other — the  principal  vein — passes  un- 
derneath, and  that  by  the  broadening  out  of  the  latter 
in  a  very  definite  spot  a  heart  has  arisen ;  this  "  ventral 
heart "  is  just  as  characteristic  of  all  vertebrates  as  the 
"  dorsal  heart "  is  of  the  articulata  and  mollusca. 
Equally  characteristic  of  all  vertebrates  is  the  early 
division  of  the  intestinal  tube  into  a  "  head-gut "  (or 
gill-gut),  which  serves  in  respiration,  and  a  "  body- 
gut  "  (or  liver-gut),  which  co-operates  with  the  liver  in 
digestion ;  so  are,  likewise,  the  ramification  of  the  mus- 
cular system,  the  peculiar  structure  of  the  urinary  and 

28 


OUR    BODILY   FRAME 

sexual  organs,  and  so  forth.  In  all  these  anatomical 
relations  man  is  a  true  vertebrate. 

Aristotle  gave  the  name  of  four-footed,  or  tetrapoda, 
to  all  the  higher  warm-blooded  animals  which  are  dis- 
tinguished by  the  possession  of  two  pairs  of  legs.  The 
category  was  enlarged  subsequently,  and  its  title 
changed  into  the  Latin  "  quadrupeda,"  when  Cuvier 
proved  that  even  "  two-legged "  birds  and  men  are 
really  "four-footed";  he  showed  that  the  internal 
skeleton  of  the  four  legs  in  all  the  higher  land-verte- 
brates, from  the  amphibia  up  to  man,  was  originally 
constructed  after  the  same  pattern  out  of  a  definite 
number  of  members.  The  "  arm  "  of  man  and  the 
"wing"  of  bats  and  birds  have  the  same  typical  skele- 
ton as  the  foreleg  of  the  animals  which  are  conspicu- 
ously "  four-footed." 

The  anatomical  unity  of  the  fully  developed  skeleton 
in  the  four  limbs  of  all  tetrapods  is  very  important. 
In  order  to  appreciate  it  fully  one  has  only  to  compare 
caref ulty  the  skeleton  of  a  salamander  or  a  frog  with 
that  of  a  monkey  or  a  man.  One  perceives  at  once 
that  the  humeral  zone  in  front  and  the  pelvic  zone  be- 
hind are  made  up  of  the  same  principal  parts  as  in  the 
rest  of  the  quadrupeds.  We  find  in  all  cases  that  the 
first  section  of  the  leg  proper  consists  of  one  strong 
marrow-bone  (the  humerus,  in  the  forearm ;  the  femur, 
behind) ;  the  second  part,  on  the  contrary,  originally 
always  consists  of  two  bones  (the  ulna  and  radius,  in 
front;  the  fibula  and  tibia,  behind).  When  we  further 
compare  the  developed  structure  of  the  foot  proper  we 
are  surprised  to  find  that  the  small  bones  of  which  it 
is  made  up  are  also  similarly  arranged  and  distributed 
in  every  case:  in  the  front  limb  the  three  groups  of 
bones  of  the  forefoot  (or  "hand")  correspond  in  all 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

classes  of  the  tetrapoda:  (i)  the  carpus,  (2)  the  meta- 
carpus, (3)  the  five  fingers  (digiti  anteriores) ;  in  the 
rear  limb,  similarly,  we  have  always  the  same  three 
osseous  groups  of  the  hind  foot:  (i)  the  tarsus,  (2)  the 
metatarsus,  and  (3)  the  five  toes  (digiti  posterior  es] .  It 
was  a  very  difficult  task  to  reduce  all  these  little  bones 
to  one  primitive  type,  and  to  establish  the  equivalence 
(or  homology)  of  the  separate  parts  in  all  cases ;  they 
present  extreme  variations  of  form  and  construction  in 
detail,  sometimes  being  partly  fused  together  and  losing 
their  individuality.  This  great  task  was  first  success- 
fully achieved  by  the  most  eminent  comparative  anat- 
omist of  our  day,  Karl  Gegenbaur.  He  pointed  out, 
in  his  Researches  into  the  Comparative  Anatomy  of 
the  Vertebrata  (1864),  how  this  characteristic  "  five-toed 
leg  "  of  the  land  tetrapods  originally  (not  before  the 
Carboniferous  period)  arose  out  of  the  radiating  fin 
(the  breast-fin,  or  the  belly- fin)  of  the  ancient  fishes. 
He  had  also,  in  his  famous  Researches  into  the  Skull  of 
the  Vertebrata  (1872),  deduced  the  younger  skull  of  the 
tetrapods  from -the  oldest  cranial  form  among  the  fishes, 
that  of  the  shark. 

It  is  especially  remarkable  that  the  original  number 
of  the  toes  (five)  on  each  of  the  four  feet,  which  first 
appeared  in  the  old  amphibia  of  the  Carboniferous 
period,  has,  in  virtue  of  a  strict  heredity,  been  pre- 
served even  to  the  present  day  in  man.  Also,  natural- 
ly and  harmoniously,  the  typical  construction  of  the 
joints,  ligaments,  muscles,  and  nerves  of  the  two  pairs 
of  legs  has,  in  the  main,  remained  the  same  as  in  the 
rest  of  the  "four-footed."  In  all  these  important  rela- 
tions man  is  a  true  tetrapod. 

The  mammals  are  the  youngest  and  most  advanced 
class  of  the  vertebrates.  It  is  true  they  are  derived 

30 


OUR    BODILY   FRAME 

from  the  older  class  of  amphibia,  like  birds  and  reptiles : 
yet  they  are  distinguished  from  all  the  other  tetrapods 
by  a  number  of  very  striking  anatomical  features.  Ex- 
ternally, there  is  the  clothing  of  the  skin  with  hair,  and 
the  possession  of  two  kinds  of  skin  glands — the  sweat 
glands  and  the  sebaceous  glands.  A  local  develop- 
ment of  these  glands  on  the  abdominal  skin  gave  rise 
(probably  during  the  Triassic  period)  to  the  organ  which 
is  especially  characteristic  of  the  class,  and  from  which 
it  derives  its  name — the  mammarium.  This  important 
instrument  of  lactation  is  made  up  of  milk  glands 
(mammae)  and  the  "  mammar-pouches  "  (folds  of  the 
abdominal  skin) ;  in  its  development  the  teats  appear, 
through  which  the  young  mammal  sucks  its  mother's 
milk.  In  internal  structure  the  most  remarkable  feature 
is  the  possession  of  a  complete  diaphragm,  a  muscular 
wall  which,  in  all  mammals — and  only  in  mammals — 
separates  the  thoracic  from  the  abdominal  cavity ;  in 
all  other  vertebrates  there  is  no  such  separation.  The 
skull  of  mammals  is  distinguished  by  a  number  of  re- 
markable formations,  especially  in  the  maxillary  ap- 
paratus (the  upper  and  lower  jaws,  and  the  temporal 
bones).  Moreover,  the  brain,  the  olfactory  organ,  the 
heart,  the  lungs,  the  internal  and  external  sexual  or- 
gans, the  kidneys,  and  other  parts  of  the  body  present 
special  peculiarities,  both  in  general  and  detailed  struct- 
ure, in  the  mammals ;  all  these,  taken  collectively,  point 
unequivocally  to  an  early  derivation  of  the  mammals 
from  the  older  groups  of  the  reptiles  and  amphibia, 
which  must  have  taken  place,  at  the  latest,  in  the 
Triassic  period  —  at  least  twelve  million  years  ago! 
In  all  these  important  characteristics  man  is  a  true 
mammal. 

'  The  numerous  orders  (12-33)  which  modern  system- 

3* 


THE  RIDDLE   OF   THE  UNIVERSE 

atic  zoology  distinguishes  in  the  class  of  mammals 
had  been  arranged  in  1816  (by  Blainville)  in  three  nat- 
ural groups,  which  still  hold  good  as  sub-classes :  (i) 
the  monotrema,  (2)  the  marsupialia,  and  (3)  the  placen- 
talia.  These  three  sub-classes  not  only  differ  in  the  im- 
portant respect  of  bodily  structure  and  development, 
but  they  correspond,  also,  to  three  different  historical 
stages  in  the  formation  of  the  class,  as  we  shall  see 
later  on.  The  monotremes  of  the  Triassic  period  were 
followed  by  the  marsupials  of  the  Jurassic,  and  these 
by  the  placentals  of  the  Cretaceous.  Man  belongs  to 
this,  the  youngest,  sub-class ;  for  he  presents  in  his  or- 
ganization all  the  features  which  distinguish  the  pla- 
centals from  the  marsupials  and  the  still  older  mono- 
tremes. First  of  all,  there  is  the  peculiar  organ  which 
gives  a  name  to  the  placentals — the  placenta.  It  serves 
the  purpose  of  nourishing  the  young  mammal  embryo 
for  a  long  time  during  its  enclosure  in  the  mother's 
womb;  it  consists  of  blood-bearing  tufts  which  grow 
out  of  the  chorion  surrounding  the  embryo,  and  pene- 
trate corresponding  cavities  in  the  mucous  membrane 
of  the  maternal  uterus ;  the  delicate  skin  between  the 
two  structures  is  so  attenuated  in  this  spot  that  the  nu- 
triment in  the  mother's  blood  can  pass  directly  into  the 
blood  of  the  child.  This  excellent  contrivance  for  nour- 
ishing the  embryo,  which  makes  its  first  appearance  at 
a  somewhat  late  date,  gives  the  foetus  the  opportunity 
of  a  longer  maintenance  and  a  higher  development  in 
the  protecting  womb;  it  is  wanting  in  the  implacen- 
talia,  the  two  older  sub-classes  of  the  marsupials  and 
the  monotremes.  There  are,  likewise,  other  anatomical 
features,  particularly  the  higher  development  of  the 
brain  and  the  absence  of  the  marsupial  bone,  which 
raise  the  placentals  above  all  their  implacental  ances- 

32 


OUR   BODILY   FRAME 

tors.     In  all  these  important  particulars  man  is  a  true 
placental. 

The  very  varied  sub-class  of  the  placentals  has  been 
recently  subdivided  into  a  great  number  of  orders ;  they 
are  usually  put  at  from  ten  to  sixteen,  but  when  we  in- 
clude the  important  extinct  forms  which  have  been  re- 
cently discovered  the  number  runs  up  to  from  twenty  to 
twenty-six.  In  order  to  facilitate  the  study  of  these 
numerous  orders,  and  to  obtain  a  deeper  insight  into 
their  kindred  construction,  it  is  very  useful  to  form  them 
into  great  natural  groups,  which  I  have  called  "  le- 
gions." In  my  latest  attempt*  to  arrange  the  advanced 
system  of  placentals  in  phylogenetic  order  I  have  sub- 
stituted eight  of  these  legions  for  the  twenty-six  orders, 
and  shown  that  these  may  be  reduced  to  four  main 
groups.  These,  in  turn,  are  traceable  to  one  common 
ancestral  group  of  all  the  placentals,  their  fossil  ances- 
tors, the  prochoriata  of  the  Cretaceous  period.  These 
are  directly  connected  with  the  marsupial  ancestors  of 
the  Jurassic  period.  We  will  only  specify  here,  as  the 
most  important  living  representatives  of  these  four 
main  groups,  the  rodentia,  the  ungulata,  the  carnivora, 
and  the  primates.  To  the  legion  of  the  primates  be- 
long the  prosimise  (half -apes),  the  simiae  (real  apes), 
and  man.  All  the  members  of  these  three  orders  agree 
in  many  important  features,  and  are  at  the  same  time 
distinguished  by  these  features  from  the  other  twenty- 
three  orders  of  placentals.  They  are  especially  con- 
spicuous for  the  length  of  their  bones,  which  were  orig- 
inally adapted  to  their  arboreal  manner  of  life.  Their 
hands  and  feet  are  five-fingered,  and  the  long  fingers 
are  excellently  suited  for  grasping  and  embracing  the 

*  Systematische  Phylogenie,  1896,  part  iii.,  pp.  490,  494,  and  496. 
33 


THE    RIDDLE    OF  THE    UNIVERSE 

branches  of  trees ;  they  are  provided,  either  partially  or 
completely,  with  nails,  but  have  no  claws.  The  denti- 
tion is  complete,  containing  all  four  classes — incisors, 
canine,  premolars,  and  molars.  Primates  are  also  dis- 
tinguished from  all  the  other  placentals  by  important 
features  in  the  special  construction  of  the  skull  and  the 
brain;  and  these  are  the  more  striking  in  proportion 
to  their  development  and  the  lateness  of  their  appear- 
ance in  the  history  of  the  earth.  In  all  these  important 
anatomical  features  our  human  organism  agrees  with 
that  of  all  the  other  primates :  man  is  a  true  primate. 
An  impartial  and  thorough  comparison  of  the  bodily 
structure  of  the  primates  forces  us  to  distingiush  two 
orders  in  this  most  advanced  legion  of  the  mammalia 
— half-apes  (prosimiae  or  hemipitheci)  and  apes  (simiae 
or  pithed).  The  former  seem  in  every  respect  to  be  the 
lower  and  older,  the  latter  to  be  the  higher  and  younger 
order.  The  womb  of  the  half-ape  is  still  double,  or  two- 
horned,  as  it  is  in  all  the  other  mammals.  In  the  true 
ape,  on  the  contrary,  the  right  and  left  wombs  have 
completely  amalgamated ;  they  blend  into  a  pear- 
shaped  womb,  which  the  human  mother  possesses  be- 
sides the  ape.  In  the  skull  of  the  apes,  just  as  in  that 
of  man,  the  orbits  of  the  eyes  are  completely  sepa- 
rated from  the  temporal  cavities  by  an  osseous  par- 
tition; in  the  prosimiae  this  is  either  entirely  want- 
ing or  very  imperfect.  Finally,  the  cerebrum  of  the 
prosimia  is  either  quite  smooth  or  very  slightly  fur- 
rowed, and  proportionately  small;  that  of  the  true 
ape  is  much  larger,  and  the  gray  bed  especially,  the  or- 
gan of  higher  psychic  activity,  is  much  more  developed  ; 
the  characteristic  convolutions  and  furrows  appear  on 
its  surface  exactly  in  proportion  as  the  ape  approaches 
to  man.  In  these  and  other  important  respects,  par- 

34 


OUR    BODILY    FRAME 

ticularly  in  the  construction  of  the  face  and  the  hands, 
man  presents  all  the  anatomical  marks  of  a  true  ape. 

The  extensive  order  of  apes  was  divided  by  Geoffroi, 
in  1812,  into  two  sub-orders,  which  are  still  universally 
accepted  in  systematic  zoology — New  World  and  Old 
World  monkeys,  according  to  the  hemisphere  they  re- 
spectively inhabit.  The  American  "  New  World  "  mon- 
keys are  called  Platyrrhinae  (flat-nosed) ;  their  nose  is 
flat,  and  the  nostrils  divergent,  with  a  broad  partition. 
The  "  Old  World  "  monkeys,  on  the  contrary,  are  called 
collectively  Catarrhinae  (narrow-nosed) ;  their  nostrils 
point  downward,  like  man's,  and  the  dividing  cartilage 
is  narrow.  A  further  difference  between  the  two  groups 
is  that  the  tympanum  is  superficial  in  the  platyrrhinae, 
but  lies  deeper,  inside  the  petrous  bone,  in  the  catar- 
rhinae  ;  in  the  latter  a  long  and  narrow  bony  passage 
has  been  formed,  while  in  the  former  it  is  still  short  and 
wide,  or  even  altogether  wanting.  Finally,  we  have  a 
much  more  important  and  decisive  difference  between 
the  two  groups  in  the  circumstance  that  all  the  Old 
World  monkeys  have  the  same  teeth  as  man  —  i.e., 
twenty  deciduous  and  thirty-two  permanent  teeth  (two 
incisors,  one  canine,  two  premolars,  and  three  molars  in 
each  half  of  the  jaw).  The  New  World  monkeys,  on 
the  other  hand,  have  an  additional  premolar  in  each 
half-jaw,  or  thirty-six  teeth  altogether.  The  fact  that 
these  anatomical  differences  of  the  two  simian  groups 
are  universal  and  conspicuous,  and  that  they  harmonize 
with  their  geographical  distribution  in  the  two  hemi- 
spheres, fully  authorizes  a  sharp  systematic  division 
of  the  two,  as  well  as  the  phylogenetic  conclusion  that 
for  a  very  long  period  (for  more  than  a  million  years) 
the  two  sub-orders  have  been  developing  quite  inde- 
pendently of  each  other  in  the  western  and  eastern 

35 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

hemispheres.  That  is  a  most  important  point  in  view 
of  the  geneaology  of  our  race;  for  man  bears  all  the 
marks  of  a  true  catarrhina ;  he  has  descended  from 
some  extinct  member* of  this  sub-order  in  the  Old  World. 
The  numerous  types  of  catarrhinae  which  still  sur- 
vive in  Asia  and  Africa  have  been  formed  into  two  sec- 
tions for  some  time — the  tailed,  doglike  apes  (the  cyno- 
pitheci)  and  the  tailless,  manlike  apes  (the  anthropo- 
morpha).  The  latter  are  much  nearer  to  man  than  the 
former,  not  only  in  the  absence  of  a  tail  and  in  the  gen- 
eral build  of  the  body  (especially  of  the  head),  but  also 
on  account  of  certain  features  which  are  unimportant 
in  themselves  but  very  significant  in  their  constancy. 
The  sacrum  of  the  anthropoid  ape,  like  that  of  man,  is 
made  up  of  the  fusion  of  five  vertebrae ;  that  of  the  cyno- 
pithecus  consists  of  three  (more  rarely  four)  sacral  ver- 
tebras. The  premolar  teeth  of  the  cynopitheci  are  great- 
er in  length  than  breadth ;  those  of  the  anthropomorpha 
are  broader  than  they  are  long;  and  the  first  molar 
has  four  protuberances  in  the  former,  five  in  the  latter. 
Furthermore,  the  outer  incisor  of  the  lower  jaw  is  broad- 
er than  the  inner  one  in  the  manlike  apes  and  man ;  in 
the  doglike  ape  it  is  the  smaller.  Finally,  there  is  a 
special  significance  in  the  fact,  established  by  Selenka 
in  1890,  that  the  anthropoid  apes  share  with  man  the 
peculiar  structure  of  the  discoid  placenta,  the  decidua 
reflexa,  and  the  pedicle  of  the  allantois.  In  fact,  even 
a  superficial  comparison  of  the  bodily  structure  of  the 
anthropomorpha  which  still  survive  makes  it  clear  that 
both  the  Asiatic  (the  orang-outang  and  the  gibbous 
ape)  and  the  African  (the  gorilla  and  chimpanzee)  rep- 
resentatives of  this  group  are  nearer  to  man  in  build 
than  any  of  the  cynopitheci.  Under  the  latter  group 
we  include  the  dog-faced  papiomorpha,  the  baboon,  and 

36 


OUR   BODILY   FRAME 

the  long-tailed  monkey,  at  a  very  low  stage.  The  ana- 
tomical difference  between  these  low  papiomorpha  and 
the  most  highly  developed  anthropoid  apes  is  greater 
in  every  respect,  whatever  organ  we  take  for  compari- 
son, than  the  difference  between  the  latter  and  man. 
This  instructive  fact  was  established  with  great  pene- 
tration by  the  anatomist  Robert  Hartmann,  in  his  work 
on  The  Anthropoid  Apes'*  he  proposed  to  divide  the 
order  of  Simiae  in  a  new  way — namely,  into  the  two 
great  groups  of  primaria  (man  and  the  anthropoid  ape) 
and  the  simiae  proper,  or  pithed  (the  rest  of  the  catar- 
rhinse  and  all  the  platyrrhinae).  In  any  case,  we  have 
a  clear  proof  of  the  close  affinity  of  man  and  the  anthro- 
poid ape. 

Thus  comparative  anatomy  proves  to  the  satisfaction 
of  every  unprejudiced  and  critical  student  the  signifi- 
cant fact  that  the  body  of  man  and  that  of  the  anthro- 
poid ape  are  not  only  peculiarly  similar,  but  they  are 
practically  one  and  the  same  in  every  important  respect. 
The  same  two  hundred  bones,  in  the  same  order  and 
structure,  make  up  our  inner  skeleton ;  the  same  three 
hundred  muscles  effect  our  movements ;  the  same  hair 
clothes  our  skin ;  the  same  groups  of  ganglionic  cells 
build  up  the  marvellous  structure  of  our  brain;  the 
same  four  chambered  heart  is  the  central  pulsometer  in 
our  circulation ;  the  same  thirty-two  teeth  are  set  in  the 
same  order  in  our  jaws ;  the  same  salivary,  hepatic,  and 
gastric  glands  compass  our  digestive  process  ;  the  same 
reproductive  organs  insure  the  maintenance  of  our  race. 

It  is  true  that  we  find,  on  close  examination,  certain 
minor  differences  in  point  of  size  and  shape  in  most 
of  the  organs  of  man  and  the  ape ;  but  we  discover  the 

*  Translated  in  the  International  Science  Series,  1872. 
37 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

same,  or  similar,  differences  between  the  higher  and 
lower  races  of  men,  when  we  make  a  careful  compari- 
son— even,  in  fact,  in  a  minute  comparison  of  the  va- 
rious individuals  of  our  own  race.  We  find  no  two  per- 
sons who  have  exactly  the  same  size  and  form  of  nose, 
ears,  eyes,  and  so  forth.  One  has  only  to  compare  at- 
tentively these  special  features  in  many  different  per- 
sons in  any  large  company  to  convince  one's  self  of  the 
astonishing  diversity  of  their  construction  and  the  in- 
finite variability  of  specific  forms.  Not  infrequently 
even  two  sisters  are  so  much  unlike  as  to  make  their 
origin  from  the  same  parents  almost  incredible.  Yet 
all  these  individual  variations  do  not  weaken  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  fundamental  similarity  of  structure; 
they  are  traceable  to  certain  minute  differences  in  the 
growth  of  the  individual  features. 


CHAPTER   III 
OUR    LIFE 

Development  of  Physiology  in  Antiquity  and  the  Middle  Ages: 
Galen — Experiment  and  Vivisection — Discovery  of  the  Cir- 
culation of  the  Blood  by  Harvey — Vitalism  :  Haller — Teleo- 
logical  and  Vitalistic  Conception  of  Life  —  Mechanical  and 
Monistic  View  of  the  Physiological  Processes — Comparative 
Physiology  in  the  Nineteenth  Century :  Johannes  Miiller — 
Cellular  Physiology  :  Max  Verworn  —  Cellular  Pathology  : 
Virchow — Mammal  Physiology — Similarity  of  all  Vital  Ac- 
tivity in  Man  and  the  Ape 

IT  is  only  in  the  nineteenth  century  that  our  knowl- 
edge of  human  life  has  attained  the  dignity  of  a 
genuine,  independent  science ;  during  the  course  of  the 
century  it  has  developed  into  one  of  the  highest,  most 
interesting,  and  most  important  branches  of  knowledge. 
This  "  science  of  the  vital  functions/'  physiology,  had, 
it  is  true,  been  regarded  at  a  much  earlier  date  as  a  de- 
sirable, if  not  a  necessary,  condition  of  success  in  medi- 
cal treatment,  and  had  been  constantly  associated  with 
anatomy,  the  science  of  the  structure  of  the  body.  But 
it  was  only  much  later,  and  much  more  slowly,  than  the 
latter  that  it  could  be  thoroughly  studied,  as  it  had  to 
contend  with  much  more  serious  difficulties. 

The  idea  of  life,  as  the  opposite  of  death,  naturally 
became  the  subject  of  speculation  at  a  very  early  age. 
In  the  living  man,  just  as  in  other  living  animals,  there 

39 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

were  certain  peculiar  changes,  especially  movements, 
which  were  wanting  in  lifeless  nature:  spontaneous 
locomotion,  the  beat  of  the  heart,  the  drawing  of  the 
breath,  speech,  and  so  forth.  But  the  discrimination 
of  such  "  organic  movements  "  from  similar  phenomena 
in  inorganic  bodies  was  by  no  means  easy,  and  was 
frequently  impossible ;  the  flowing  stream,  the  flicker- 
ing flame,  the  rushing  wind,  the  falling  rock,  seemed 
to  man  to  exhibit  the  same  movements.  It  was  quite 
natural  that  primitive  man  should  attribute  an  inde- 
pendent life  to  these  "  dead  "  bodies.  He  knew  no 
more  of  the  real  sources  of  movement  in  the  one  case 
than  in  the  other. 

We  find  the  earliest  scientific  observations  on  the 
nature  of  man's  vital  functions  (as  well  as  on  his  struct- 
ure) in  the  Greek  natural  philosophers  and  physicians 
of  the  sixth  and  fifth  centuries  before  Christ.  The 
best  collection  of  the  physiological  facts  which  were 
known  at  that  time  is  to  be  found  in  the  Natural  His- 
tory of  Aristotle;  a  great  number  of  his  assertions 
were  probably  taken  from  Democritus  and  Hippocrates. 
The  school  of  the  latter  had  already  made  attempts  to 
explain  the  mystery ;  it  postulated  as  the  ultimate 
source  of  life  in  man  and  the  beasts  a  volatile  "  spirit 
of  life"  (Pneuma) ;  and  Erasistratus  (280  B.C.)  al- 
ready drew  a  distinction  between  the  lower  and  the 
higher  "  spirit  of  life,"  the  pneuma  zoticon  in  the  heart 
and  the  pneuma  psychicon  in  the  brain. 

The  credit  of  gathering  these  scattered  truths  into 
unity,  and  of  making  the  first  attempt  at  a  systematic 
physiology,  belongs  to  the  great  Greek  physician 
Galen ;  we  have  already  recognized  in  him  the  first 
great  anatomist  of  antiquity  (cf.  p.  23).  In  his  re- 
searches into  the  organs  of  the  body  he  never  lost  sight 

40. 


OUR   LIFE 

of  the  question  of  their  vital  activity,  their  functions ; 
and  even  in  this  direction  he  proceeded  by  the  same 
comparative  method,  taking  for  his  principal  study 
the  animals  which  approach  nearest  to  man.  What- 
ever he  learned  from  these  he  applied  directly  to  man. 
He  recognized  the  value  of  physiological  experiment ; 
in  his  vivisection  of  apes,  dogs,  and  swine  he  made  a 
number  of  interesting  experiments.  Vivisection  has 
been  made  the  object  of  a  violent  attack  in  recent  years, 
not  only  by  the  ignorant  and  narrow-minded,  but  by 
theological  enemies  of  knowledge  and  by  perfervid 
sentimentalists ;  it  is,  however,  one  of  the  indispensa- 
ble" methods  of  research  into  the  nature  of  life,  and  has 
given  us  invaluable  information  on  the  most  impor- 
tant questions.  This  was  recognized  by  Galen  seven- 
teen hundred  years  ago. 

Galen  reduces  all  the  different  functions  of  the  body 
to  three  groups,  which  correspond  to  the  three  forms  of 
the  pneuma,  or  vital  spirit.  The  pneuma  psychicon — 
the  soul — which  resides  in  the  brain  and  nerves,  is  the 
cause  of  thought,  sensation,  and  will  (voluntary  move- 
ment) ;  the  pneuma  zoticon — the  heart — is  responsible 
for  the  beat  of  the  heart,  the  pulse,  and  the  temperature ; 
the  pneuma  physicon,  seated  in  the  liver,  is  the  source 
of  the  so-called  vegetative  functions,  digestion  and  as- 
similation, growth  and  reproduction.  He  especially 
emphasized  the  renewal  of  the  blood  in  the  lungs,  and 
expressed  a  hope  that  we  should  some  day  succeed  in 
isolating  the  permanent  element  in  the  atmosphere — 
the  pneuma,  as  he  calls  it — which  is  taken  into  the 
blood  in  respiration.  More  than  fifteen  centuries 
elapsed  before  this  pneuma — oxygen — was  discovered 
by  Lavoisier. 

In  human  physiology,  as  well  as  in  anatomy,  the 


THE    RIDDLE    OF  THE    UNIVERSE 

great  system  of  Galen  was  for  thirteen  centuries  the 
Codex  aureus,  the  inviolable  source  of  all  knowledge. 
The  influence  of  Christianity,  so  fatal  to  scientific 
culture,  raised  the  same  insuperable  obstacles  in  this 
as  in  every  other  branch  of  secular  knowledge.  Not  a 
single  scientist  appeared  from  the  third  to  the  six- 
teenth century  who  dared  to  make  independent  research 
into  man's  vital  activity,  and  transcend  the  limits  of 
the  Galenic  system.  It  was  not  until  the  sixteenth 
century  that  experiments  were  made  in  that  direction 
by  a  number  of  distinguished  physicians  and  anato- 
mists (Paracelsus,  Servetus,  Vesalius,  and  others).  In 
1628  Harvey  published  his  great  discovery  of  the  cir- 
culation of  the  blood,  and  showed  that  the  heart  is  a 
pump,  which  drives  the  red  stream  unceasingly  through 
the  connected  system  of  arteries  and  veins  by  a  rhyth- 
mic, unconscious  contraction  of  its  muscles.  Not  less 
important  were  Harvey's  researches  into  the  procrea- 
tion of  animals,  as  a  result  of  which  he  formulated  the 
well-known  law :  "  Every  living  thing  comes  from  an 
egg  "  (omne  vivum  ex  ovo). 

The  powerful  impetus  which  Harvey  gave  to  physio- 
logical observation  and  experiment  led  to  a  great  num- 
ber of  discoveries  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries.  These  were  co-ordinated  for  the  first  time 
by  the  learned  Albrecht  Haller  about  the  middle  of  the 
last  century;  in  his  great  work,  Elementa  Physiolo- 
giae,  he  established  the  inherent  importance  of  the  sci- 
ence, independently  of  its  relation  to  practical  medi- 
cine. In  postulating,  however,  a  special  "  sensitive 
force  or  sensibility  "  for  neural  action,  and  a  special 
"irritability"  for  muscular  movement,  Haller  gave 
strong  support  to  the  erroneous  idea  of  a  specific  "vital 
force  "  (vis  vitalis). 

42 


OUR    LIFE 

For  more  than  a  century  afterwards,  from  the  mid- 
dle of  the  eighteenth  until  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  medicine  and  (especially)  physiology  were 
dominated  by  the  old  idea  that  a  certain  number  of  the 
vital  processes  may  be  traced  to  physical  and  chemical 
causes,  but  that  others  are  the  outcome  of  a  special  vital 
force  which  is  independent  of  physical  agencies.  How- 
ever much  scientists  differed  in  their  conceptions  of  its  i 
nature  and  its  relation  to  the  "soul,"  they  were  all 
agreed  as  to  its  independence  of,  and  essential  distinc- 
tion from,  the  chemico-physical  forces  of  ordinary  "  mat- 
ter " ;  it  was  a  self-contained  force  (archaeus),  unknown 
in  inorganic  nature,  which  compelled  ordinary  forces 
into  its  service.  Not  only  the  distinctly  psychical  activ- 
ity, the  sensibility  of  the  nerves  and  the  irritability  of 
the  muscles,  but  even  the  phenomena  of  sense  activity, 
of  reproduction,  and  of  development  seemed  so  won- 
derful and  so  mysterious  in  their  sources  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  attribute  them  to  simple  physical  and  chem- 
ical processes.  As  the  free  activity  of  the  vital  force 
was  purposive  and  conscious,  it  led,  in  philosophy,  to 
a  complete  teleology;  especially  did  this  seem  ^indis- 
putable when  even  the  "critical"  philosopher  Kant 
had  acknowledged,  in  his  famous  critique  of  the  tele- 
ological  position,  that,  though  the  mind's  authority 
to  give  a  mechanical  interpretation  of  all  phenomena  is 
theoretically  unlimited,  yet  its  actual  capacity  for  such 
interpretation  does  not  extend  to  the  phenomena  of  or- 
ganic life;  here  we  are  compelled  to  have  recourse  to 
a  purposive — therefore  supernatural — principle.  This 
divergence  of  the  vital  phenomena  from  the  mechanical 
processes  of  life  became,  naturally,  more  conspicuous 
as  science  advanced  in  the  chemical  and  physical  ex- 
planation of  the  latter.  The  circulation  of  the  blood 

43 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

and  a  number  of  other  phenomena  could  be  traced  to 
mechanical  agencies ;  respiration  and  digestion  were 
attributable  to  chemical  processes  like  those  we  find 
in  inorganic  nature.  On  the  other  hand,  it  seemed  im- 
possible to  do  this  with  the  wonderful  performances  of 
the  nerves  and  muscles,  and  with  the  characteristic  life 
of  the  mind ;  the  co-ordination  of  all  the  different  forces 
in  the  life  of  the  individual  seemed  also  beyond  such  a 
mechanical  interpretation.  Hence  there  arose  a  com- 
plete physiological  dualism — an  essential  distinction 
was  drawn  between  inorganic  and  organic  nature,  be- 
tween mechanical  and  vital  processes,  between  material 
force  and  life  force,  between  the  body  and  the  soul.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  this  vitalism 
was  firmly  established  in  France  by  Louis  Dumas, 
and  in  Germany  by  Reil.  Alexander  Humboldt  had 
already  published  a  poetical  presentation  of  it  in  1795, 
in  his  narrative  of  the  Legend  of  Rhodes ;  it  is  repeated, 
with  critical  notes,  in  his  Views  of  Nature. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  famous 
philosopher  Descartes,  starting  from  Harvey's  discov- 
ery of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  put  forward  the  idea 
that  the  body  of  man,  like  that  of  other  animals,  is 
merely  an  intricate  machine,  and  that  its  movements 
take  place  under  the  same  mechanical  laws  as  the 
movements  of  an  automaton  of  human  construction. 
It  is  true  that  Descartes,  at  the  same  time,  claimed  for 
man  the  exclusive  possession  of  a,  perfectly  indepen- 
dent, immaterial  soul,  and  held  that  its  subjective  ex- 
perience, thought,  was  the  only  thing  in  the  world  of 
which  we  have  direct  and  certain  cognizanze  ("  Cogito, 
ergo  sum1').  Yet  this  dualism  did  not  prevent  him 
from  doing  much  to  advance  our  knowledge  of  the  me- 
chanical life  processes  in  detail.  Borelli  followed  ( 1 660) 

44 


OUR   LIFE 

with  a  reduction  of  the  movements  of  the  animal  body 
to  purely  physical  laws,  and  Sylvius  endeavored,  about 
the  same  time,  to  give  a  purely  chemical  explanation  of 
the  phenomena  of  digestion  and  respiration ;  the  former 
founded  the  iatromechanical,  the  latter  the  iatrochem- 
ical,  school  of  medicine.  However,  these  rational  ten- 
dencies towards  a  natural,  mechanical  explanation  of 
the  phenomena  of  life  did  not  attain  to  a  universal  ac- 1 
ceptance  and  application;  in  the  course  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  they  fell  entirely  away  before  the  advance 
of  teleological  vitalism.  The  final  disproof  of  the  latter 
and  a  return  to  mechanism  only  became  possible  with 
the  happy  growth  of  the  new  science  of  comparative 
physiology  in  the  forties  of  the  present  century. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  vital  functions,  like  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  structure  of  the  human  body,  was  originally 
obtained,  for  the  most  part,  not  by  direct  observation  of 
the  human  organism  itself,  but  by  a  study  of  the  more 
closely  related  animals  among  the  vertebrates,  espe- 
cially the  mammals.  In  this  sense  the  very  earliest 
beginning  of  human  anatomy  and  physiology  was 
"comparative."  But  the  distinct  science  of  "compar- 
ative physiology,"  which  embraces  the  whole  sphere  of 
life  phenomena,  from  the  lowest  animal  up  to  man,  is 
a  triumph  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Its  famous  cre- 
ator was  Johannes  M  tiller,  of  Berlin  (born,  the  son  of  a 
shoemaker,  at  Coblentz,  in  1801).  For  fully  twenty- 
five  years — from  1833  to  1858 — this  most  versatile  and 
most  comprehensive  biologist  of  our  age  evinced  an  ac- 
tivity at  the  Berlin  University,  as  professor  and  in- 
vestigator, which  is  only  comparable  with  the  asso- 
ciated work  of  Haller  and  Cuvier.  Nearly  every  one 
of  the  great  biologists  who  have  taught  and  worked  in 
Germany  for  the  last  sixty  years  was,  directly  or  in- 
5  45 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

directly,  a  pupil  of  Johannes  Mtiller.  Starting  from  the 
anatomy  and  physiology  of  man,  he  soon  gathered  all 
the  chief  groups  of  the  higher  and  lower  animals  within 
his  sphere  of  comparison.  As,  moreover,  he  compared 
the  structure  of  extinct  animals  with  the  living,  and 
the  healthy  organism  with  the  diseased,  endeavoring 
to  bring  together  all  the  phenomena  of  life  in  a  truly 
philosophic  fashion,  he  attained  a  biological  knowledge 
far  in  advance  of  his  predecessors. 

The  most  valuable  fruit  of  these  comprehensive  stud- 
ies of  Johannes  Miiller  was  his  Manual  of  Human  Phys- 
iology. This  classical  work  contains  much  more  than 
the  title  indicates ;  it  is  the  sketch  of  a  comprehensive 
"  comparative  biology."  It  is  still  unsurpassed  in  re- 
spect of  its  contents  and  range  of  investigation.  In 
particular,  we  find  the  methods  of  observation  and  ex- 
periment applied  in  it  as  masterfully  as  the  philosophic 
processes  of  induction  and  deduction.  Miiller  was  orig- 
inally a  vitalist,  like  all  the  physiologists  of  his  time. 
Nevertheless,  the  current  idea  of  a  vital  force  took  a 
novel  form  in  his  speculations,  and  gradually  trans- 
formed itself  into  the  very  opposite.  For  he  attempted 
to  explain  the  phenomena  of  life  mechanically  in  every 
department  of  physiology.  His  "transfigured"  vital 
force  was  not  above  the  physical  and  chemical  laws  of 
the  rest  of  nature  but  entirely  bound  up  with  them.  It 
was,  in  a  word,  nothing  more  than  life  itself — that  is, 
the  sum  of  all  the  movements  which  we  perceive  in  the 
living  organism.  He  sought  especially  to  give  them 
the  same  mechanical  interpretation  in  the  life  of  the 
senses  and  of  the  mind  as  in  the  working  of  the  mus- 
cles ;  the  same  in  the  phenomena  of  circulation,  res- 
piration, and  digestion  as  in  generation  and  develop- 
ment. Miiller !s  success  was  chiefly  due  to  the  fact 

46 


OUR    LIFE 

that  he  always  began  with  the  simplest  life  phenomena 
of  the  lowest  animals,  and  followed  them  step  by  step 
in  their  gradual  development  up  to  the  very  highest,  to 
man.  In  this  his  method  of  critical  comparison  proved 
its  value  both  from  the  physiological  and  from  the  ana- 
tomical point  of  view.  Johannes  Miiller  is,  moreover, 
the  only  great  scientist  who  has  equally  cultivated 
these  two  branches  of  research,  and  combined  them 
with  equal  brilliancy.  Immediately  after  his  death 
his  vast  scientific  kingdom  fell  into  four  distinct  prov- 
inces, which  are  now  nearly  always  represented  by 
four  or  more  chairs — human  and  comparative  anat- 
omy, pathological  anatomy,  physiology,  and  the  his- 
tory of  evolution.  This  sudden  division  of  Miiller's 
immense  realm  of  learning  in  1858  has  been  compared 
to  the  dissolution  of  the  empire  which  Alexander  the 
Great  had  consolidated  and  ruled. 

Among  the  many  pupils  of  Johannes  Miiller  who, 
either  during  his  lifetime  or  after  his  death,  labored 
hard  for  the  advancement  of  the  various  branches  of 
biology,  one  of  the  most  fortunate — if  not  the  most  im- 
portant— was  Theodor  Schwann.  When  the  able  bot- 
anist Schleiden,  in  1838,  indicated  the  cell  as  the  com- 
mon elementary  organ  of  all  plants,  and  proved  that 
all  the  different  tissues  of  the  plant  are  merely  combi- 
nations of  cells,  Johannes  Miiller  recognized  at  once  the 
extraordinary  possibilities  of  this  important  discovery. 
He  himself  sought  to  point  out  the  same  composition 
in  various  tissues  of  the  animal  body — for  instance,  in 
the  spinal  cord  of  vertebrates — and  thus  led  his  pupil, 
Schwann,  to  extend  the  discovery  to  all  the  animal  tis- 
sues. This  difficult  task  was  accomplished  by  Schwann 
in  his  Microscopic  Researches  into  the  Accordance  in 
the  Structure  and  Growth  of  Plants  and  Animals  (1839). 

47 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

Thus  was  the  foundation  laid  of  the  "  cellular  theory/' 
the  profound  importance  of  which,  both  in  physiology 
and  anatomy,  has  become  clearer  and  more  widely 
recognized  in  each  subsequent  year.  Moreover,  it  was 
shown  by  two  other  pupils  of  Johannes  Miiller  that  the 
activity  of  all  organisms  is,  in  the  ultimate  analysis, 
the  activity  of  the  components  of  their  tissues,  the  mi- 
croscopic cells — these  were  the  able  physiologist  Ernst 
Briicke,  of  Vienna,  and  the  distinguished  histologist 
Albert  Kolliker,  of  Wiirzburg.  Briicke  correctly  de- 
nominated the  cells  the  "  elementary  organisms/'  and 
showed  that,  in  the  body  of  man  and  of  all  other  ani- 
mals, they  are  the  only  actual,  independent  factors  of 
the  life  process.  Kolliker  earned  special  distinction, 
not  only  in  the  construction  of  the  whole  science  of 
histology,  but  particularly  by  showing  that  the  ani- 
mal ovum  and  its  products  are  simple  cells. 

Still,  however  widely  the  immense  importance  of  the 
cellular  theory  for  all  biological  research  was  acknowl- 
edged, the  "  cellular  physiology  "  which  is  based  on  it 
only  began  an  independent  development  very  recently. 
In  this  Max  Verworn  (of  Jena)  earned  a  twofold  dis- 
tinction. In  his  Psycho-physiological  Studies  of  the 
Protistae  (1889)  he  showed,  as  a  result  of  an  ingenious 
series  of  experimental  researches,  that  the  "  theory  of 
a  cell-soul  "  which  I  put  forward  in  1866"  is  completely 
established  by  an  accurate  study  of  the  unicellular  pro- 
tozoa, and  that  "the  psychic  phenomena  of  the  pro- 
tistae  form  the  bridge  which  unites  the  chemical  pro- 
cesses of  inorganic  nature  with  the  mental  life  of  the 
highest  animals."  Verworn  has  further  developed 
these  views,  and  based  them  on  the  modern  theory  of 

*Zell-Seelen  und  Seelen-Zellen.  Ernst  Haeckel,  Gesammelte 
popular e  Vortrage.  I.  Heft.  1878. 

48 


OUR   LIFE 

evolution,  in  his  General  Physiology.  This  distin- 
guished work  returns  to  the  comprehensive  point  of 
view  of  Johannes  Miiller,  in  opposition  to  the  one- 
sided and  narrow  methods  of  those  modern  physiolo- 
gists who  think  to  discover  the  nature  of  the  vital  phe- 
nomena by  the  exclusive  aid  of  chemical  and  physical 
experiments.  Verworn  showed  that  it  is  only  by  Miil- 
ler's  comparative  method  and  by  a  profound  study  of 
the  physiology  of  the  cell  that  we  can  reach  the  higher 
stand-point  which  will  give  us  a  comprehensive  survey 
of  the  wonderful  realm  of  the  phenomena  of  life.  Only 
thus  do  we  become  convinced  that  the  vital  processes  in 
man  are  subject  to  the  same  physical  and  chemical 
laws  as  those  of  all  other  animals. 

The  fundamental  importance  of  the  cellular  theory 
for  all  branches  of  biology  was  made  clear  in  the  second 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  not  only  by  the  rapid 
progress  of  morphology  and  physiology,  but  also  by 
the  entire  reform  of  that  biological  science  which  has 
always  been  deemed  most  important  on  account  of  its 
relation  to  practical  medicine — pathology,  or  the  sci- 
ence of  disease.  Many  even  of  the  older  physicians 
were  convinced  that  human  diseases  were  natural  phe- 
nomena, like  all  other  manifestations  of  life,  and  should 
be  studied  scientifically,  like  other  vital  functions.  Par- 
ticular schools  of  medicine — the  latrophysical  and  the 
latrochemical — had  already,  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, attempted  to  trace  the  sources  of  disease  to  certain 
physical  and  chemical  changes.  However,  the  imper- 
fect condition  of  science  at  that  period  precluded  any 
lasting  results  of  these  efforts.  Many  of  the  older 
theories,  which  sought  the  nature  of  disease  in  super- 
natural and  mystical  causes,  were  almost  universally 
accepted  down  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

49 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

It  was  then  that  Rudolf  Virchow,  another  pupil  oi 
Miiller,  conceived  the  happy  idea  of  transferring  the 
cellular  theory  from  the  healthy  to  the  diseased  organ- 
ism ;  he  sought  in  the  more  minute  metamorphoses  of 
the  diseased  cells  and  the  tissues  they  composed  the 
true  source  of  those  larger  changes  which,  in  the  form 
of  disease,  threaten  the  living  organism  with  peril  and 
death.  Especially  during  the  seven  years  of  his  pro- 
fessorship at  Wiirzburg  (1849-56)  Virchow  pursued  his 
great  task  with  such  brilliant  results  that  his  Cellular 
Pathology  (published  in  1858)  turned,  at  one  stroke,  the 
whole  of  pathology  and  the  dependent  science  of  prac- 
tical medicine  into  new  and  eminently  fruitful  paths. 
This  reform  of  medicine  is  significant  for  our  present 
purpose  in  that  it  led  us  to  a  monistic  and  purely  scien- 
tific conception  of  disease.  In  sickness,  no  less  than 
in  health,  man  is  subject  to  the  same  eternal  "iron 
laws"  of  physics  and  chemistry  as  all  the  rest  of  the 
organic  world. 

Among  the  numerous  classes  of  animals  which 
modern  zoology  distinguishes  the  mammals  occupy 
a  pre-eminent  position,  not  only  on  morphological 
grounds,  but  also  for  physiological  reasons.  As  man 
belongs  to  the  class  of  mammals  (see  p.  27)  by  every  por- 
tion of  his  frame,  we  must  expect  him  to  share  his 
characteristic  functions  with  the  rest  of  the  mammals. 
Such  we  find  to  be  the  case.  The  circulation  of  the 
blood  and  respiration  are  accomplished  in  man  under 
precisely  the  same  laws  and  in  the  same  manner  as  in 
all  the  other  mammals — and  in  these  alone ;  they  are 
determined  by  the  peculiar  structure  of  their  heart  and 
lungs.  In  mammals  only  is  all  the  arterial  blood  con- 
ducted from  the  left  ventricle  of  the  heart  to  the  body 
by  one,  the  left,  branch  of  the  aorta,  while  in  birds  it 

50 


OUR    LIFE 

passes  along  the  right  branch,  and  in  reptiles  along 
both  branches.  The  blood  of  mammals  is  distinguish- 
ed from  that  of  any  other  vertebrate  by  the  circum- 
stance that  its  red  cells  have  lost  their  nucleus  (by 
reversion).  The  respiratory  movements  are  effected 
largely  by  the  diaphragm  in  this  class  of  animals 
alone,  because  only  in  them  does  it  form  a  complete 
partition  between  the  pectoral  and  abdominal  cavities. 
Special  importance,  however,  in  this  highest  class  of 
animals,  attaches  to  the  production  of  milk  in  the 
breasts  (mammae),  and  to  the  peculiar  method  of  the 
rearing  of  the  young,  which  entails  the  supplying  of 
the  offspring  with  the  mother's  milk.  As  this  nutri- 
tive process  reacts  most  powerfully  on  the  other  vi- 
tal functions,  and  the  maternal  affection  of  mam- 
mals must  have  arisen  from  this  intimate  form  of 
rearing,  the  name  of  the  class  justly  reminds  us  of  its 
great  importance.  In  millions  of  pictures,  most  of 
them  produced  by  painters  of  the  highest  rank,  the 
" madonna  with  the  child"  is  revered  as  the  purest 
and  noblest  type  of  maternal  love — the  instinct  which 
is  found  in  its  extreme  form  in  the  exaggerated  ten- 
derness of  the  mother-ape. 

As  the  apes  approach  nearest  to  man  of  all  the  mam- 
mals in  point  of  structure,  we  shall  expect  to  hear  the 
same  of  their  vital  functions ;  and  that  we  find  to  be 
the  case.  Everybody  knows  how  closely  the  habits, 
the  movements,  the  sense  activity,  the  mental  life,  and 
the  parental  customs  of  apes  resemble  those  of  man. 
Scientific  physiology  proves  the  same  significant  r6- 
semblance  in  other  less  familiar  processes,  particularly 
in  the  working  of  the  heart,  the  division  of  the  breasts, 
and  the  sexual  life.  In  the  latter  connection  it  is  es- 
pecially noteworthy  that  the  mature  females  of  many 

51 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

kinds  of  apes  suffer  a  periodical  discharge  of  blood 
from  the  womb,  which  corresponds  to  the  menstrua- 
tion of  the  human  female.  The  secretion  of  the  milk 
in  the  glands  and  the  suctorial  process  also  take  place 
in  the  female  ape  in  precisely  the  same  fashion  as  in 
women. 

Finally,  it  is  of  especial  interest  that  the  speech  of 
apes  seems  on  physiological  comparison  to  be  a  stage 
in  the  formation  of  articulate  human  speech.  Among 
living  apes  there  is  an  Indian  species  which  is  musical ; 
the  hylobates  syndactylus  sings  a  full  octave  in  per- 
fectly pure,  harmonious  half  -  tones.  No  impartial 
philologist  can  hesitate  any  longer  to  admit  that  our 
elaborate  rational  language  has  been  slowly  and 
gradually  developed  out  of  the  imperfect  speech  of 
our  Pliocene  simian  ancestors. 


CHAPTER   IV 
OUR  EMBRYONIC  DEVELOPMENT 

The  Older  Embryology— The  Theory  of  Preformation— The  The- 
ory of  Scatulation  :  Haller  and  Leibnitz — The  Theory  of  Epi- 
genesis  :  C.  F.  Wolff— The  Theory  of  Germinal  Layers  :  Carl 
Ernst  Baer — Discovery  of  the  Human  Ovum  :  Remak,  Kolli- 
ker— The  Egg-Cell  and  the  Sperm-Cell— The  Theory  of  the 
Gastrgea — Protozoa  and  Metazoa — The  Ova  and  the  Sperma- 
tozoa :  Oscar  Hertwig  —  Conception  —  Embryonic  Develop- 
ment in  Man — Uniformity  of  the  Vertebrate  Embryo — The 
Germinal  Membranes  in  Man — The  Amnion,  the  Serolemma, 
and  the  Allantois — The  Formation  of  the  Placenta  and  the 
"After-Birth  " — The  Decidua  and  the  Funiculus  Umbilicalis 
—The  Discoid  Placenta  of  Man  and  the  Ape. 

/COMPARATIVE  ontogeny,  or  the  science  of  the  de- 
^*  velopment  of  the  individual  animal,  is  a  child  of 
the  nineteenth  century  in  even  a  truer  sense  than  com- 
parative anatomy  and  physiology.  How  is  the  child 
formed  in  the  mother's  womb  ?  How  do  animals 
evolve  from  ova?  How  does  the  plant  come  forth 
from  the  seed?  These  pregnant  questions  have  oc- 
cupied the  thoughtful  mind  for  thousands  of  years. 
Yet  it  is  only  seventy  years  since  the  embryologist 
Baer  pointed  out  the  correct  means  and  methods  for 
penetrating  into  the  mysteries  of  embryonic  life ;  it  is 
only  forty  years  since  Darwin,  by  his  reform  of  the 
theory  of  descent,  gave  us  the  key  which  should  open 
the  long-closed  door,  and  lead  to  a  knowledge  of  em- 

53 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

bryonic  agencies.  As  I  have  endeavored  to  give  a 
complete,  popular  presentation  of  this  very  interest- 
ing but  difficult  study  in  the  first  section  of  my  An- 
thropogeny,  I  will  confine  myself  here  to  a  brief  survey 
and  discussion  of  the  most  important  phenomena.  Let 
us  first  cast  a  historical  glance  at  the  older  ontogeny, 
and  the  theory  of  preformation  which  is  connected 
with  it. 

The  classical  works  of  Aristotle,  the  many-sided 
"  father  of  science,"  are  the  oldest  known  scientific 
sources  of  embryology,  as  we  found  them  to  be  for 
comparative  anatomy.  Not  only  in  his  great  natural 
history,  but  also  in  a  special  small  work,  Five  Books 
on  the  Generation  and  Development  of  Animals,  the 
great  philosopher  gives  us  a  host  of  interesting  facts, 
adding  many  observations  on  their  significance;  it 
was  not  until  our  own  days  that  many  of  them  were 
fully  appreciated,  and,  indeed,  we  may  say,  discovered 
afresh.  Naturally,  many  fables  and  errors  are  mixed 
up  with  them ;  it  was  all  that  was  known  at  that  time 
of  the  hidden  growth  of  the  human  germ.  Yet  during 
the  long  space  of  the  next  two  thousand  years  the 
slumbering  science  made  no  further  progress.  It  was 
not  until  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury that  there  was  a  renewal  of  activity.  In  1600  the 
Italian  anatomist  Fabricius  ab  Aquapendente  pub- 
lished at  Padua  the  first  pictures  and  descriptions  of 
the  embryos  of  man  and  some  of  the  higher  animals ; 
in  1687  the  famous  Marcello  Malpighi,  of  Bologna,  a 
distinguished  pioneer  alike  in  zoology  and  botany, 
published  the  first  consistent  exposition  of  the  growth 
of  the  chick  in  the  hatched  egg. 

All  these  older  scientists  were  possessed  with  the 
idea  that  the  complete  body,  with  all  its  parts,  was 

54 


OUR    EMBRYONIC    DEVELOPMENT 

already  contained  in  the  ovum  of  animals,  only  it  was 
so  minute  and  transparent  that  it  could  not  be  detected ; 
that,  therefore,  the  whole  development  was  nothing 
more  than  a  growth,  or  an  "  unfolding,"  of  the  parts 
that  were  already  "  infolded  "  (involutae).  This  erro- 
neous notion,  almost  universally  accepted  until  the  .be- 
ginning of  the  present  century,  is  called  the  "  preforma- 
tion  theory  " ;  sometimes  it  is  called  the  "  evolution  the- 
ory "  (in  the  literal  sense  of  "  unfolding  ") ;  but  the 
latter  title  is  accepted  by  modern  scientists  for  the  very 
different  theory  of  "transformation." 

Closely  connected  with  the  preformation  theory,  and 
as  a  logical  consequence  of  it,  there  arose  in  the  last 
century  a  further  theory  which  keenly  interested  all 
thoughtful  biologists — the  curious  "  theory  of  scatu- 
lation."  As  it  was  thought  that  the  outline  of  the  en- 
tire organism,  with  all  its  parts,  was  present  in  the  egg, 
the  ovary  of  the  embryo  had  to  be  supposed  to  contain 
the  ova  of  the  following  generation ;  these,  again,  the  ova 
of  the  next,  and  so  on  in  infinitum  1  On  that  basis  the 
distinguished  physiologist  Haller  calculated  that  God 
had  created  together,  6000  years  ago — on  the  sixth  day 
of  his  creatorial  labors — the  germs  of  200,000,000,000 
men,  and  ingeniously  packed  them  all  in  the  ovary  of 
our  venerable  mother  Eve.  Even  the  gifted  philos- 
opher Leibnitz  fully  accepted  this  conclusion,  and  em- 
bodied it  in  his  monadist  theory ;  and  as,  on  his  theory, 
soul  and  body  are  in  eternal,  inseparable  companion- 
ship, the  consequence  had  to  be  accepted  for  the  soul ; 
"  the  souls  of  men  have  existed  in  organized  bodies  in 
their  ancestors  from  Adam  downward — that  is,  from 
the  very  beginning  of  things." 

In  the  month  of  November,  1759,  a  young  doctor  of 
twenty-six  years,  Caspar  Friedrich  Wolff  (son  of  a  Berlin 

55 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

tailor),  published  his  dissertation  for  the  degree  at  Halle, 
under  the  title,  Theoria  Generationis.  Supported  by  a 
series  of  most  laborious  and  painstaking  observations, 
he  proved  the  entire  falsity  of  the  dominant  theories 
of  preformation  and  scatulation.  In  the  hatched  egg 
there  is  at  first  no  trace  of  the  coming  chick  and  its  or- 
gans ;  instead  of  it  we  find  on  top  of  the  yolk  a  small, 
circular,  white  disk.  This  thin  "  germinal  disk  "  be- 
comes gradually  round,  and  then  breaks  up  into  four 
folds,  lying  upon  each  other,  which  are  the  rudiments 
of  the  four  chief  systems  of  organs — the  nervous  sys- 
tem above,  the  muscular  system  underneath,  the  vas- 
cular system  (with  the  heart),  and,  finally,  the  aliment- 
ary canal.  Thus,  as  Wolff  justly  remarked,  the 
embryonic  development  does  not  consist  in  an  unfold- 
ing of  the  preformed  organs,  but  in  a  series  of  new  con- 
structions ;  it  is  a  true  epigenesis.  One  part  arises  after 
another,  and  all  make  their  appearance  in  a  simple 
form,  which  is  very  different  from  the  later  structure. 
This  only  appears  after  a  series  of  most  remarkable 
formations.  Although  this  great  discovery — one  of 
the  most  important  of  the  eighteenth  century — could 
be  directly  proved  by  a  verification  of  the  facts  Wolff 
had  observed,  and  although  the  "  theory  of  genera- 
tion "  which  was  founded  on  it  was  in  reality  not  a  the- 
ory at  all,  but  a  simple  fact,  it  met  with  no  sympathy 
whatever  for  half  a  century.  It  was  particularly  re- 
tarded by  the  high  authority  of  Haller,  who  fought  it 
strenuously  with  the  dogmatic  assertion  that  "  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  development :  no  part  of  the  animal 
body  is  formed  before  another;  all  were  created  to- 
gether." Wolff,  who  had  to  go  to  St.  Petersburg,  was 
long  in  his  grave  before  the  forgotten  facts  he  had  ob- 
served were  discovered  afresh  by  Oken  at  Jena,  in  1806. 

56 


OUR    EMBRYONIC    DEVELOPMENT 

After  Wolff's  "  epigenesis  theory  "  had  been  estab- 
lished by  Oken  and  Neckel  (whose  important  work  on 
the  development  of  the  alimentary  canal  was  translated 
from  Latin  into  German),  a  number  of  young  German 
scientists  devoted  themselves  eagerly  to  more  accurate 
embryological  research.  The  most  important  and  suc- 
cessful of  these  was  Carl  Ernst  Baer.  His  principal 
work  appeared  in  1828,  with  the  title,  History  of  the 
Development  of  Animals :  Observations  and  Reflections. 
Not  only  the  phenomena  of  the  formation  of  the  germ 
are  clearly  illustrated  and  fully  described  in  it,  but  it 
adds  a  number  of  very  pregnant  speculations.  In  par- 
ticular, the  form  of  the  embryo  of  man  and  the  mammals 
is  correctly  presented,  and  the  vastly  different  devel- 
opment of  the  lower  invertebrate  animals  is  also  con- 
sidered. The  two  leaflike  layers  which  appear  in  the 
round  germ  disk  of  the  higher  vertebrates  first  divide, 
according  to  Baer,  into  two  further  layers,  and  these 
four  germinal  layers  are  transformed  into  four  tubes, 
which  represent  the  fundamental  organs  —  the  skin 
layer,  the  muscular  layer,  the  vascular  layer,  and  the 
mucous  layer.  Then,  by  very  complicated  evolution- 
ary processes,  the  later  organs  arise,  in  substantially 
the  same  manner,  in  man  and  all  the  other  vertebrates. 
The  three  chief  groups  of  invertebrates,  which  in  their 
turn  differ  widely  from  each  other,  have  a  very  different 
development. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  Baer's  many  discov- 
eries was  the  finding  of  the  human  ovum.  Up  to  that 
time  the  little  vesicles  which  are  found  in  great  num- 
bers in  the  human  ovary  and  in  that  of  all  other  mam- 
mals had  been  taken  for  the  ova.  Baer  was  the  first 
to  prove,  in  1827,  that  the  real  ova  are  enclosed  in  these 
vesicles — the  "  Graafian  follicles  " — and  much  smaller, 

57 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

being  tiny  spheres  i-i20th  inch  in  diameter,  visible  to 
the  naked  eye  as  minute  specks  under  favorable  con- 
ditions. He  discovered  likewise  that  from  this  tiny 
ovum  of  the  mammal  there  develops  first  a  character- 
istic germ  globule,  a  hollow  sphere  with  liquid  contents, 
the  wall  of  which  forms  the  slender  germinal  mem- 
brane, or  blastoderm. 

Ten  years  after  Baer  had  given  a  firm  foundation  to 
embryological  science  by  his  theory  of  germ  layers  a 
new  task  confronted  it  on  the  establishment  of  the  cellu- 
lar theory  in  1838.  What  is  the  relation  of  the  ovum 
and  the  layers  which  arise  from  it  to  the  tissues  and 
cells  which  compose  the  fully  developed  organism  ?  The 
correct  answer  to  this  difficult  question  was  given  about 
the  middle  of  this  century  by  two  distinguished  pupils 
of  Johannes  Muller — Robert  Remak,  of  Berlin,  and 
Albert  Kolliker,  of  Wiirzburg.  They  showed  that  the 
ovum  is  at  first  one  simple  cell,  and  that  the  many  ger- 
minal globules,  or  granules,  which  arise  from  it  by  re- 
peated segmentation,  are  also  simple  cells.  From  this 
mulberry-like  group  of  cells  are  constructed  first  the 
germinal  layers,  and  subsequently  by  differentiation, 
or  division  of  labor,  all  the  different  organs.  Kolliker 
has  the  further  merit  of  showing  that  the  seminal  fluid 
of  male  animals  is  also  a  mass  of  microscopic  cells. 
The  active  pin-shaped  "  seed-animalcules,"  or  sperma- 
tozoa, in  it  are  merely  ciliated  cells,  as  I  first  proved  in 
the  case  of  the  seed-filaments  of  the  sponge  in  1866. 
Thus  it  was  proved  that  both  the  materials  of  genera- 
tion, the  male  sperm  and  the  female  ova,  fell  in  with  the 
cellular  theory.  That  was  a  discovery  of  which  the 
great  philosophic  significance  was  not  appreciated  until 
a  much  later  date,  on  a  close  study  of  the  phenomena 
of  conception  in  1875. 

58 


OUR    EMBRYONIC    DEVELOPMENT 

All  the  older  studies  in  embryonic  development  con- 
cern man  and  the  higher  vertebrates,  especially  the  em- 
bryonic bird,  since  hens'  eggs  are  the  largest  and  most 
convenient  objects  for  investigation,  and  are  plentiful 
enough  to  facilitate  experiment;  we  can  hatch  them 
in  the  incubator,  as  well  as  by  the  natural  function  of 
the  hen,  and  so  observe  from  hour  to  hour,  during  the 
space  of  three  weeks,  the  whole  series  of  formations, 
from  the  simple  germ  cell  to  the  complete  organism. 
Even  Baer  had  only  been  able  to  gather  from  such  ob- 
servations the  fact  that  the  different  classes  of  verte- 
brates agreed  in  the  characteristic  form  of  the  germ 
layers  and  the  growth  of  particular  organs.  In  the 
innumerable  classes  of  invertebrates,  on  the  other  hand 
—that  is,  in  the  great  majority  of  animals — the  embry- 
onic development  seemed  to  run  quite  a  different  course, 
and  most  of  them  seemed  to  be  altogether  without  true 
germinal  layers.  It  was  not  until  about  the  middle  of 
the  century  that  such  layers  were  found  in  some  of  the 
invertebrates.  Huxley,  for  instance,  found  them  in  the 
medusae  in  1849,  and  Kolliker  in  the  cephalopods  in 
1844.  Particularly  important  was  the  discovery  of 
Kowalewsky  (1886)  that  the  lowest  vertebrate — the  lan- 
celot,  or  amphioxus — is  developed  in  just  the  same  man- 
ner (and  a  very  original  fashion  it  is)  as  an  inverte- 
brate, apparently  quite  remote,  tunicate,  the  sea-squirt, 
or  ascidian.  Even  in  some  of  the  worms,  the  radiata 
and  the  articulata,  a  similar  formation  of  the  germinal 
layers  was  pointed  out  by  the  same  observer.  I  myself 
was  then  (since  1886)  occupied  with  the  embryology  of 
the  sponges,  corals,  medusae,  and  siphonophorae,  and, 
as  I  found  the  same  formation  of  two  primary  germ 
layers  everywhere  in  these  lowest  classes  of  multicellu- 
lar  animals,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  this  impor- 

59 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

tant  embryonic  feature  is  common  to  the  entire  animal 
world.  The  circumstance  that  in  the  sponges  and  the 
cnidaria  (polyps,  medusae,  etc.)  the  body  consists  for  a 
long  time,  sometimes  throughout  life,  merely  of  two 
simple  layers  of  cells,  seemed  to  me  especially  signifi- 
cant. Huxley  had  already  (1849)  compared  these,  in 
the  case  of  the  medusae,  with  the  two  primary  germinal 
layers  of  the  vertebrates.  On  the  ground  of  these  ob- 
servations and  comparisons  I  then,  in  1872,  in  my  Phi- 
losophy of  the  Calcispongiae,  published  the  "  theory  of 
the  gastraea,"  of  which  the  following  are  the  essential 
points : 

I.  The  whole  animal  world  falls  into  two  essentially 
different  groups,  the  unicellular  primitive  animals  (Pro- 
tozoa) and  the  multicellular  animals  with  complex  tis- 
sues (Metazoa).     The  entire  organism  of  the  protozoon 
(the  rhizopods  of  the  infusoria)  remains  throughout  life 
a  single  simple  cell  (or  occasionally  a  loose  colony  of 
cells  without  the  formation  of  tissue,  a  coenobium).  The 
organism  of  the  metazoon,  on  the  contrary,  is  only  uni- 
cellular at  the  commencement,  and  is   subsequently 
built  up  of  a  number  of  cells  which  form  tissues. 

II.  Hence  the  method  of  reproduction  and  develop- 
ment is  very  different  in  each  of  these  great  categories 
of  animals.     The  protozoa  usually  multiply  by  non- 
sexual  means,  by  fission,  gemmation,  or  spores ;   they 
have  no  real  ova  and  no  sperm.     The  metazoa,  on  the 
contrary,  are  divided  into  male  and  female  sexes,  and 
generally  propagate  sexually,  by  means  of  true  ova, 
which  are  fertilized  by  the  male  sperm. 

III.  Hence,  further,  true  germinal  layers,  and  the 
tissues  which  are  formed  from  them,  are  found  only 
in  the  metazoa ;  they  are  entirely  wanting  in  the  pro- 
tozoa. 

60 


OUR    EMBRYONIC    DEVELOPMENT 

IV.  In  all  the  metazoa  only  two  primary  layers  ap- 
pear at  first,  and  these  have  always  the  same  essential 
significance ;  from  the  outer  layer  the  external  skin  and 
the  nervous  system  are  developed ;  from  the  inner  layer 
are  formed  the  alimentary  canal  and  all  the  other  or- 
gans. 

V.  I  called  the  germ,  which  always  arises  first  from 
the  impregnated  ovum,  and  which  consists  of  these  two 
primary  layers,  the  "  gut-larva,"  or  the  gastrula ;   its 
cup -shaped  body  with  the  two  layers  encloses  origi- 
nally a  simple  digestive  cavity,  the  primitive  gut  (the 
progaster  or  archenteron) ,  and  its  simple  opening  is  the 
primitive  mouth  (the  prostoma  or  blastoporus) .     These 
are  the  earliest  organs  of  the  multicellular  body,  and 
the  two  cell  layers  of  its  enclosing  wall,  simple  epithelia, 
are  its  earliest  tissues ;  all  the  other  organs  and  tissues 
are  a  later  and  secondary  growth  from  these. 

VI.  From  this  similarity,  or  homology,  of  the  gas- 
trula in  all  classes  of  compound  animals  I  drew  the  con- 
clusion, in  virtue  of  the  biogenetic  law  (p.  81),  that  all 
the  metazoa  come  originally  from  one  simple  ancestral 
form,  the  gastraea,  and  that  this  ancient  (Laurentian), 
long-extinct  form  had  the  structure  and  composition  of 
the  actual  gastrula,  in  which  it  is  preserved  by  heredity. 

VII.  This  phylogenetic  conclusion,  based  on    the 
comparison  of  ontogenetic  facts,  is  confirmed  by  the 
circumstance  that  there  are  several  of  these  gastraeades 
still  in  existence  (gastraemaria,  cyemaria,  physemaria, 
etc.),  and  also  some  ancient  forms  of  other  animal 
groups  whose  organization  is  very  little  higher  (the 
olynthus  of  the  sponges,  the  hydra,  or  common  fresh- 
water polyp,  of  the  cnidaria,  the  convoluta  and  other 
cryptocsela,  or  worms  of  the  simplest  type,  of  the  pla- 
todes). 

6  61 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

VIII.  In  the  further  development  of  the  various 
tissue-forming  animals  from  the  gastrula  we  have  to 
distinguish  two  principal  groups  The  earlier  and 
lower  types  (the  coelenteria  or  acoelomia)  have  no  body 
cavity,  no  vent,  and  no  blood ;  such  is  the  case  with 
the  gastraeades,  sponges,  cnidaria,  and  platodes.  The 
later  and  higher  types  (the  caelomaria  or  bilateria),  on 
the  other  hand,  have  a  true  body  cavity,  and  generally 
blood  and  a  vent ;  to  these  we  must  refer  the  worms 
and  the  higher  types  of  animals  which  were  evolved 
from  these  later  on,  the  echinodermata,  mollusca,  artic- 
ulata,  tunicata,  and  vertebrata. 

Those  are  the  main  points  of  my  "gastraea  theory" ; 
I  have  since  enlarged  the  first  sketch  of  it  (given  in 
1872),  and  have  endeavored  to  substantiate  it  in  a  series 
of  "  Studies  on  the  gastraea  theory  "  (1873-84).  Al- 
though it  was  almost  universally  rejected  at  first,  and 
fiercely  combated  for  ten  years  by  many  authorities, 
it  is  now  (and  has  been  for  the  last  fifteen  years)  ac- 
cepted by  nearly  all  my  colleagues.  Let  us  now  see 
what  far-reaching  consequences  follow  from  it,  and 
from  the  evolution  of  the  germ,  especially  with  regard 
to  our  great  question,  "the  place  of  man  in  nature." 

The  human  ovum,  like  that  of  all  other  animals,  is 
a  single  cell,  and  this  tiny  globular  egg  cell  (about  the 
I20th  of  an  inch  in  diameter)  has  just  the  same  charac- 
teristic appearance  as  that  of  all  other  viviparous  or- 
ganisms. The  little  ball  of  protoplasm  is  surrounded 
by  a  thick,  transparent,  finely  reticulated  membrane, 
called  the  zona  pellucida ;  even  the  little,  g'obular, 
germinal  vesicle  (the  cell-nucleus),  which  is  enclosed 
in  the  protoplasm  (the  cell-body),  is  of  the  same  size 
and  the  same  qualities  as  in  the  rest  of  the  mammals. 
The  same  applies  to  the  active  spermatozoa  of  the 

62 


OUR    EMBRYONIC    DEVELOPMENT 

male,  the  minute,  threadlike,  ciliated  cells  of  which 
millions  are  found  in  every  drop  of  the  seminal  fluid ; 
on  account  of  their  lifelike  movements  they  were  pre- 
viously taken  to  be  forms  of  life,  as  the  name  indicates 
(spermatozoa  —  sperm  animals).  Moreover,  the  or- 
igin of  both  these  important  sexual  cells  in  their  re- 
spective organs  is  the  same  in  man  as  in  the  other 
mammals ;  both  the  ova  in  the  ovary  of  the  female  and 
the  spermatozoa  in  the  spermarium  of  the  male  arise 
in  the  same  fashion — they  always  come  from  cells, 
which  are  originally  derived  from  the  coelous  epithe- 
lium, the  layer  of  cells  which  clothes  the  cavity  of  the 
body. 

The  most  important  moment  in  the  life  of  every  man, 
as  in  that  of  all  other  complex  animals,  is  the  moment 
in  which  he  begins  his  individual  existence;  it  is  the 
moment  when  the  sexual  cells  of  both  parents  meet 
and  coalesce  for  the  formation  of  a  single  simple  cell. 
This  new  cell,  the  impregnated  egg  cell,  is  the  indi- 
vidual stem  cell  (the  cytula),  the  continued  segmenta- 
tion of  which  produces  the  cells  of  the  germinal  layers 
and  the  gastrula.  With  the  formation  of  this  cytula, 
hence  in  the  process  of  conception  itself,  the  existence 
of  the  personality,  the  independent  individual,  com- 
mences. This  ontogenic  fact  is  supremely  important, 
for  the  most  far-reaching  conclusions  may  be  drawn 
from  it.  In  the  first  place,  we  have  a  clear  perception 
that  man,  like  all  the  other  complex  animals,  inherits 
all  his  personal  characteristics,  bodily  and  mental, 
from  his  parents;  and,  further,  we  come  to  the  mo- 
mentous conclusion  that  the  new  personality  which 
arises  thus  can  lay  no  claim  to  "  immortality." 

Hence  the  minute  processes  of  conception  and  sexual 
generation  are  of  the  first  importance.  We  are,  how- 

63 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

ever,  only  familiar  with  their  details  since  1875,  when 
Oscar  Hertwig,  my  pupil  and  fellow-traveller  at  that 
time,  began  his  researches  into  the  impregnation  of  the 
egg  of  the  sea-urchin  at  Ajaccio,  in  Corsica.  The 
beautiful  capital  of  the  island  in  which  Napoleon  the 
Great  was  born,  in  1769,  was  also  the  spot  in  which  the 
mysteries  of  animal  conception  were  carefully  studied 
for  the  first  time  in  their  most  important  aspects.  Hert- 
wig found  that  the  one  essential  element  in  conception 
is  the  coalescence  of  the  two  sexual  cells  and  their  nu- 
clei. Only  one  out  of  the  millions  of  male  ciliated  cells 
which  press  round  the  ovum  penetrates  to  its  nucleus. 
The  nuclei  of  both  cells,  of  the  spermatozoon  and  of 
the  ovum,  drawn  together  by  a  mysterious  force,  which 
we  take  to  be  a  chemical  sense-activity,  related  to  smell, 
approach  each  other  and  melt  into  one.  Thus,  by  the 
sensitive  perception  of  the  sexual  nuclei,  following 
upon  a  kind  of  "  erotic  chemicotropism,"  a  new  cell  is 
formed,  which  unites  in  itself  the  inherited  qualities  of 
both  parents;  the  nucleus  of  the  spermatozoon  con- 
veys the  paternal  features,  the  nucleus  of  the  ovum 
those  of  the  mother,  to  the  stem  cell,  from  which  the 
child  is  to  be  developed.  That  applies  both  to  the  bodily 
and  to  the  mental  characteristics. 

The  formation  of  the  germinal  layers  by  the  repeated 
division  of  the  stem  cell,  the  growth  of  the  gastrula 
and  of  the  later  germ  structures  which  succeed  it,  take 
place  in  man  in  just  the  same  manner  as  in  the  other 
higher  mammals,  under  the  peculiar  conditions  which 
differentiate  this  group  from  the  lower  vertebrates.  In 
the  earlier  stages  of  development  these  special  charac- 
ters of  the  placentalia  are  not  to  be  detected.  The  sig- 
nificant embryonic  or  larval  form  of  the  chordula, 
which  succeeds  the  gastrula,  has  substantially  the 


OUR    EMBRYONIC    DEVELOPMENT 

same  structure  in  all  vertebrates;  a  simple  straight 
rod,  the  dorsal  cord,  lies  lengthways  along  the  main 
axis  of  the  shield-shaped  body — the  "  embryonic  shield" ; 
above  the  cord  the  spinal  marrow  develops  out  of  the 
outer  germinal  layer,  while  the  gut  makes  its  appear- 
ance underneath.  Then,  on  both  sides,  to  the  right 
and  left  of  the  axial  rod,  appear  the  segments  of  the 
"  pro-vertebrae  "  and  the  outlines  of  the  muscular  plates, 
with  which  the  formation  of  the  members  of  the  verte- 
brate body  begins.  The  gill-clefts  appear  on  either 
side  of  the  fore-gut;  they  are  the  openings  of  the 
gullet,  through  which,  in  our  primitive  fish-ancestors, 
the  water  which  had  entered  at  the  mouth  for  breath- 
ing purposes  made  its  exit  at  the  sides  of  the  head.  By 
a  tenacious  heredity  these  gill-clefts,  which  have  no 
meaning  except  for  our  fish-like  aquatic  ancestors,  are 
still  preserved  in  the  embryo  of  man  and  all  the  other 
vertebrates.  They  disappear  after  a  time.  Even  after 
the  five  vesicles  of  the  embryonic  brain  appear  in  the 
head,  and  the  rudiments  of  the  eyes  and  ears  at  the 
sides,  and  after  the  legs  sprout  out  at  the  base  of  the 
fish-like  embryo,  in  the  form  of  two  roundish,  flat  buds, 
the  foetus  is  still  so  like  that  of  other  vertebrates  that 
it  is  indistinguishable  from  them. 

The  substantial  similarity  in  outer  form  and  inner 
structure  which  characterizes  the  embryo  of  man  and 
other  vertebrates  in  this  early  stage  of  development  is 
an  embryological  fact  of  the  first  importance ;  from  it, 
by  the  fundamental  law  of  biogeny,  we  may  draw  the 
most  momentous  conclusions.  There  is  but  one  ex- 
planation of  it — heredity  from  a  common  parent  form. 
When  we  see  that,  at  a  certain  stage,  the  embryos  of 
man  and  the  ape,  the  dog  and  the  rabbit,  the  pig  and 
the  sheep,  although  recognizable  as  higher  vertebrates, 

6s, 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

cannot  be  distinguished  from  each  other,  the  fact  can 
only  be  elucidated  by  assuming  a  common  parentage. 
And  this  explanation  is  strengthened  when  we  follow 
the  subsequent  divergence  of  these  embryonic  forms. 
The  nearer  two  animals  are  in  their  bodily  structure, 
and,  therefore,  in  the  scheme  of  nature,  so  much  the 
longer  do  we  find  their  embryos  to  retain  this  resem- 
blance, and  so  much  the  closer  do  they  approach  each 
other  in  the  ancestral  tree  of  their  respective  group,  so 
much  the  closer  is  their  genetic  relationship.  Hence  it 
is  that  the  embryos  of  man  and  the  anthropoid  ape  re- 
tain the  resemblance  much  later,  at  an  advanced  stage 
of  development,  when  their  distinction  from  the  em- 
bryos of  other  mammals  can  be  seen  at  a  glance.  I  have 
illustrated  this  significant  fact  by  a  juxtaposition  of 
corresponding  stages  in  the  development  of  a  number 
of  different  vertebrates  in  my  Natural  History  of  Crea- 
tion and  in  my  Anthropogeny. 

The  great  phylogenetic  significance  of  the  resem- 
blance we  have  described  is  seen,  not  only  in  the  com- 
parison of  the  embryos  of  vertebrates,  but  also  in  the 
comparison  of  their  protective  membranes.  All  ver- 
tebrates of  the  three  higher  classes — reptiles,  birds,  and 
mammals — are  distinguished  from  the  lower  classes 
by  the  possession  of  certain  special  fetal  membranes, 
the  amnion  and  the  serolemma.  The  embryo  is  en- 
closed in  these  membranes,  or  bags,  which  are  full  of 
water,  and  is  thus  protected  from  pressure  or  shock. 
This  provident  arrangement  probably  arose  during  the 
Permian  period,  when  the  oldest  reptiles,  the  prorep- 
tilia,  the  common  ancestors  of  all  the  amniotes  (animals 
with  an  amnion),  completely  adapted  themselves  to  a 
life  on  land.  Their  direct  ancestors,  the  amphibia,  and 
the  fishes  are  devoid  of  these  foetal  membranes;  they 

66 


OUR    EMBRYONIC    DEVELOPMENT 

woulc  have  been  superfluous  to  these  inhabitants  of 
the  water.  With  the  inheritance  of  these  protective 
coverings  are  closely  connected  two  other  changes  in 
the  amniotes:  firstly,  the  entire  disappearance  of  the 
gills  (while  the  gill  arches  and  clefts  continue  to  be  in- 
herited as  "  rudimentary  organs  ") ;  secondly,  the  con- 
struction of  the  allantois.  This  vesicular  bag,  filled 
with  water,  grows  out  of  the  hind-gut  in  the  embryo  of 
all  the  amniotes,  and  is  nothing  else  than  an  enlarge- 
ment of  the  bladder  of  their  amphibious  ancestors. 
From  its  innermost  and  inferior  section  is  formed  sub- 
sequently the  permanent  bladder  of  the  amniotes,  while 
the  larger  outer  part  shrivels  up.  Usually  this  has  an 
important  part  to  play  for  a  long  time  as  the  respiratory 
organ  of  the  embryo,  a  number  of  large  blood-vessels 
spreading  out  over  its  inner  surface.  The  formation 
of  the  membranes,  the  amnion  and  the  serolemma,  and 
of  the  allantois,  is  just  the  same,  and  is  effected  by  the 
same  complicated  process  of  growth,  in  man  as  in  all 
the  other  amniotes ;  man  is  a  true  amniote. 

The  nourishment  of  the  foetus  in  the  maternal  womb 
is  effected,  as  is  well  known,  by  a  peculiar  organ,  richly 
supplied  with  blood  at  its  surface,  called  the  placenta. 
This  important  nutritive  organ  is  a  spongy,  round  disk, 
from  six  to  eight  inches  in  diameter,  about  an  inch  thick, 
and  one  or  two  pounds  in  weight ;  it  is  separated  after 
the  birth  of  the  child,  and  issues  as  the  "  after-birth." 
The  placenta  consists  of  two  very  different  parts,  the 
foetal  and  the  maternal  part.  The  latter  contains  high- 
ly developed  sinuses,  which  retain  the  blood  conveyed 
to  them  by  the  arteries  of  the  mother.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  foetal  placenta  is  formed  by  innumerable 
branching  tufts  or  villi,  which  grow  out  of  the  outer  sur- 
face of  the  allantois,  and  derive  their  blood  from  the  um- 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

bilical  vessels.  The  hollow,  blood-filled  villi  of  the 
foetal  placenta  protrude  into  the  sinuses  of  the  maternal 
placenta,  and  the  slender  membrane  between  the  two 
is  so  attenuated  that  it  offers  no  impediment  to  the  direct 
interchange  of  material  through  the  nutritive  blood- 
stream (by  osmosis). 

In  the  older  and  lower  groups  of  the  placentals  the 
entire  surface  of  the  chorion  is  covered  with  a  number 
of  short  villi;  these  " chorion-villi "  take  the  form  of 
pit-like  depressions  of  the  mucous  membrane  of  the 
mother,  and  are  easily  detached  at  birth.  That  hap- 
pens in  most  of  the  ungulata  (the  sow,  camel,  mare, 
etc.),  the  cetacea,  and  the  prosimiae;  these  "mallo- 
placentalia  "  (with  a  diffuse  placenta)  have  been  de- 
nominated the  indeciduata.  The  same  formation  is 
present  in  man  and  the  other  placentals  in  the  begin- 
ning. It  is  soon  modified,  however,  as  the  villi  on  one 
part  of  the  chorion  are  withdrawn ;  while  on  the  other 
part  they  grow  proportionately  stronger,  and  unite  in- 
timately with  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  womb.  It 
is  in  consequence  of  this  intimate  blending  that  a  por- 
tion of  the  uterus  is  detached  at  birth,  and  carried  away 
with  loss  of  blood.  This  detachable  membrane — the 
decidua — is  a  characteristic  of  the  higher  placentalia, 
which  have,  consequently,  been  grouped  under  the  title 
of  deciduata  ;  to  that  category  belong  the  carnassia, 
rodentia,  simise,  and  man.  In  the  carnassia  and  some 
of  the  ungulata  (the  elephant,  for  instance)  the  placenta 
takes  the  form  of  a  girdle,  hence  they  are  known  as  the 
zonoplacentalia ;  in  the  rodentia,  the  insectivora  (the 
mole  and  the  hedge-hog),  the  apes,  and  man,  it  takes 
the  form  of  a  disk. 

Even  ten  years  ago  the  majority  of  embryologists 
thought  that  man  was  distinguished  by  certain  pecu- 

68 


OUR    EMBRYONIC    DEVELOPMENT 

liarities  in  the  form  of  the  placenta — namely,  by  the  pos- 
session of  what  is  called  the  decidua  reflexa,  and  by  a 
special  formation  of  the  umbilical  chord  which  unites 
the  decidua  to  the  foetus.  It  was  supposed  that  the 
rest  of  the  placentals,  including  the  apes,  were  without 
these  special  embryonic  structures.  The  funiculus 
umbilicalis  is  a  smooth,  cylindrical  cord,  from  sixteen 
to  twenty-three  inches  long,  and  as  thick  as  the  little 
finger.  It  forms  the  connecting  link  between  the  foetus 
and  the  maternal  placenta,  since  it  conducts  the  nutri- 
tive vessels  from  the  body  of  the  foetus  to  the  placenta ; 
it  comprises,  besides,  the  pedicle  of  the  allantois  and 
the  yelk-sac.  The  yelk-sac  in  the  human  case  forms 
the  greater  portion  of  the  germinal  vesicle  during  the 
third  week  of  gestation ;  but  it  shrivels  up  afterwards 
so  that  it  was  formerly  entirely  missed  in  the  mature 
foetus.  Yet  it  remains  all  the  time  in  a  rudimentary 
condition,  and  may  be  detected  even  after  birth  as  the 
little  umbilical  vesicle.  Moreover,  even  the  vesicular 
structure  of  the  allantois  disappears  at  an  early  stage 
in  the  human  case;  with  a  deflection  of  the  amnion, 
it  gives  rise  to  the  pedicle.  We  cannot  enter  here  into 
a  discussion  of  the  complicated  anatomical  and  embry- 
ological  relations  of  these  structures.  I  have  described 
and  illustrated  them  in  my  Anthropogeny  (twenty-third 
chapter). 

The  opponents  of  evolution  still  appealed  to  these 
"  special  features  "  of  human  embryology,  which  were 
supposed  to  distinguish  man  from  all  the  other  mam- 
mals, even  so  late  as  ten  years  ago.  But  in  1890  Emil 
Selenka  proved  that  the  same  features  are  found  in  the 
anthropoid  apes,  especially  in  the  orang  (satyr us),  while 
the  lower  apes  are  without  them.  Thus  Huxley's  pithe- 
cometra  thesis  was  substantiated  once  more :  "  The 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

differences  between  man  and  the  great  apes  are  not  so 
great  as  are  those  between  the  manlike  apes  and  the 
lower  monkeys."  The  supposed  "  evidences  against  the 
near  blood-relationship  of  man  and  the  apes"  proved, 
on  a  closer  examination  of  the  real  circumstances,  to 
be  strong  reasons  in  favor  of  it. 

Every  scientist  who  penetrates  with  open  eyes  into 
this  dark  but  profoundly  interesting  labyrinth  of  our 
embryonic  development,  and  who  is  competent  to  com- 
pare it  critically  with  that  of  the  rest  of  the  mammals, 
will  find  in  it  a  most  important  aid  towards  the  eluci- 
dation of  the  descent  of  our  species.  For  the  various 
stages  of  our  embryonic  development,  in  the  character 
of  palingenetic  phenomena  of  heredity,  cast  a  brilliant 
light  on  the  corresponding  stages  of  our  ancestral  tree, 
in  accordance  with  the  great  law  of  biogeny.  But  even 
the  cenogenetic  phenomena  of  adaptation,  the  formation 
of  the  temporary  foetal  organs — the  characteristic  foetal 
membranes,  and  especially  the  placenta — gives  us  suf- 
ficiently definite  indications  of  our  close  genetic  relation- 
ship with  the  primates. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  HISTORY  OF  OUR  SPECIES 

Origin  of  Man — Mythical  History  of  Creation — Moses  and  Linne 
—The  Creation  of  Permanent  Species — The  Catastrophic  The- 
ory :  Cuvier — Transformism  :  Goethe — Theory  of  Descent: 
Lamarck — Theory  of  Selection  :  Darwin — Evolution  (Phy- 
logeny) — Ancestral  Trees — General  Morphology — Natural 
History  of  Creation — Systematic  Phylogeny — Fundamental 
Law  of  Biogeny — Anthropogeny — Descent  of  Man  from  the 
Ape — Pithecoid  Theory — The  Fossil  Pithecanthropus  of  Du- 
bois 

THE  youngest  of  the  great  branches  of  the  living  tree 
of  biology  is  the  science  we  call  biological  evolu- 
tion, or  phytogeny.  It  came  into  existence  much  later, 
and  under  much  more  difficult  circumstances,  than  its 
natural  sister,  embryonic  evolution  or  ontogeny.  The 
object  of  the  latter  was  to  attain  a  knowledge  of  the 
mysterious  processes  by  which  the  individual  organ- 
ism, plant  or  animal,  developed  from  the  egg.  Phy- 
logeny has  to  answer  the  much  more  obscure  and 
difficult  question :  *  What  is  the  origin  of  the  different 
organic  species  of  plants  and  animals?" 

Ontogeny  (embryology  and  metamorphism)  could 
follow  the  empirical  method  of  direct  observation  in  the 
solution  of  its  not  remote  problem ;  it  needed  but  to  fol- 
low, day  by  day  and  hour  by  hour,  the  visible  changes 
which  the  foetus  experiences  during  a  brief  period  in 
the  course  of  its  development  from  the  ovum.  Much 

71 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

more  difficult  was  the  remote  problem  of  phylogeny; 
for  the  slow  processes  of  gradual  construction,  which 
effect  the  rise. of  new  species  of  animals  and  plants,  go 
on  imperceptibly  during  thousands  and  even  millions 
of  years.  Their  direct  observation  is  possible  only 
within  very  narrow  limits ;  the  vast  majority  of  these 
historical  processes  can  only  be  known  by  direct  in- 
ference— by  critical  reflection,  and  by  a  comparative 
use  of  empirical  sciences  which  belong  to  very  different 
fields  of  thought,  palaeontology,  ontogeny,  and  mor- 
phology. To  this  we  must  add  the  immense  opposition 
which  was  everywhere  made  to  biological  evolution  on 
account  of  the  close  connection  between  questions  of 
organic  creation  and  supernatural  myths  and  religious 
dogmas.  For  these  reasons  it  can  easily  be  under- 
stood how  it  is  that  the  scientific  existence  of  a  true  the- 
ory of  origins  was  only  secured,  amid  fierce  controversy, 
in  the  course  of  the  last  forty  years. 

Every  serious  attempt  that  was  made  before  the  be- 
ginning of  the  nineteenth  century  to  solve  the  problem 
of  the  origin  of  species  lost  its  way  in  the  mythological 
labyrinth  of  the  supernatural  stories  of  creation.  The 
efforts  of  a  few  distinguished  thinkers  to  emancipate 
themselves  from  this  tyranny  and  attain  to  a  natural- 
istic interpretation  proved  unavailing.  A  great  vari- 
ety of  creation  myths  arose  in  connection  with  their  re- 
ligion in  all  the  ancient  civilized  nations.  During  the 
Middle  Ages  triumphant  Christendom  naturally  arro- 
gated to  itself  the  sole  right  of  pronouncing  on  the  ques- 
tion; and,  the  Bible  being  the  basis  of  the  structure 
of  the  Christian  religion,  the  whole  story  of  creation 
was  taken  from  the  book  of  Genesis.  Even  Carl  Linne, 
the  famous  Swedish  scientist,  started  from  that  basis 
when,  in  1735,  in  his  classical  Systema  Naturae,  he 

72 


THE    HISTORY    OF   OUR    SPECIES 

made  the  first  attempt  at  a  systematic  arrangement, 
nomenclature,  and  classification  of  the  innumerable 
objects  in  nature.  As  the  best  practical  aid  in  that  at- 
tempt he  introduced  the  well-known  double  or  binary 
nomenclature;  to  each  kind  of  animals  and  plants  he 
gave  a  particular  specific  name,  and  added  to  it  the 
wider-reaching  name  of  the  genus.  A  genus  served 
to  unite  the  nearest  related  species ;  thus,  for  instance, 
Linne  grouped  under  the  genus  "  dog  "  (cams),  as  dif- 
ferent species,  the  house-dog  (cam's  familiar  is),  the 
jackal  (cants  aureus),  the  wolf  (cam's  lupus)  the  fox 
(canis  vulpes),  etc.  This  binary  nomenclature  imme- 
diately proved  of  such  great  practical  assistance  that 
it  was  universally  accepted,  and  is  still  always  followed 
in  zoological  and  botanical  classification. 

But  the  theoretical  dogma  which  Linne  himself  con- 
nected with  his  practical  idea  of  species  was  fraught 
with  the  gravest  peril  to  science.  The  first  question 
which  forced  itself  on  the  mind  of  the  thoughtful  sci- 
entist was  the  question  as  to  the  nature  of  the  concept 
of  species,  its  contents,  and  its  range.  And  the  creator 
of  the  idea  answered  this  fundamental  question  by  a 
naive  appeal  to  the  dominant  Mosaic  legend  of  crea- 
tion :  "  Species  tot  sunt  diver sae,  quot  diver sas  for  mas 
ab  initio  creavit  infinitum  ens  " — (There  are  just  so  many 
distinct  species  as  there  were  distinct  types  created  in 
the  beginning  by  the  Infinite).  This  theosophic  dog- 
ma cut  short  all  attempt  at  a  natural  explanation  of 
the  origin  of  species.  Linn6  was  acquainted  only  with 
the  plant  and  animal  worlds  that  exist  to-day ;  he  had 
no  suspicion  of  the  much  more  numerous  extinct  spe- 
cies which  had  peopled  the  earth  with  their  varying 
forms  in  the  earlier  period  of  its  development. 

It  was  not  until  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 

73 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

tury  that  we  were  introduced  to  these  fossil  animals  by 
Cuvier.  In  his  famous  work  on  the  fossil  bones  of  the 
four-footed  vertebrates  he  gave  (1812)  the  first  correct 
description  and  true  interpretation  of  many  of  these  fos- 
sil remains.  He  showed,  too,  that  a  series  of  very  dif- 
ferent animal  populations  have  succeeded  each  other 
in  the  various  stages  of  the  earth's  history.  Since  Cu- 
vier held  firmly  to  Linnets  idea  of  the  absolute  perma- 
nency of  species,  he  thought  their  origin  could  only  be 
explained  by  the  supposition  that  a  series  of  great  cat- 
aclysms and  new  creations  had  marked  the  history  of 
the  globe;  he  imagined  that  all  living  creatures  were 
destroyed  at  the  commencement  of  each  of  these  terres- 
trial revolutions,  and  an  entirely  new  population  was 
created  at  its  close.  Although  this  "  catastrophic  the- 
ory "  of  Cuvier 's  led  to  the  most  absurd  consequences, 
and  was  nothing  more  than  a  bald  faith  in  miracles, 
it  obtained  almost  universal  recognition,  and  reigned 
triumphant  until  the  coming  of  Darwin. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  that  these  prevalent  ideas  of 
the  absolute  unchangeability  and  supernatural  crea- 
tion of  organic  species  could  not  satisfy  the  more  pene- 
trating thinkers.  We  find  several  eminent  minds  al- 
ready, in  the  second  half  of  the  last  century,  busy  with 
the  attempt  to  find  a  natural  explanation  of  the  "  prob- 
lem of  creation."  Pre-eminent  among  them  was  the 
great  German  poet  and  philosopher,  Wolfgang  Goethe, 
who,  by  his  long  and  assiduous  study  of  morphology, 
obtained,  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  a  clear  in- 
sight into  the  intimate  connection  of  all  organic  forms, 
and  a  firm  conviction  of  a  common  natural  origin. 
In  his  famed  Metamorphosis  of  Plants  (1790)  he  derived 
all  the  different  species  of  plants  from  one  primitive 
type,  and  all  their  different  organs  from  one  primitive 

74 


THE    HISTORY    OF    OUR    SPECIES 

organ — the  leaf.  In  his  vertebral  theory  of  the  skull 
he  endeavored  to  prove  that  the  skulls  of  the  vertebrates 
—including  man — were  all  alike  made  up  of  certain 
groups  of  bones,  arranged  in  a  definite  structure,  and 
that  these  bones  are  nothing  else  than  transformed  ver- 
tebrae. It  was  his  penetrating  study  of  comparative 
osteology  that  led  Goethe  to  a  firm  conviction  of  the 
unity  of  the  animal  organization;  he  had  recognized 
that  the  human  skeleton  is  framed  on  the  same  funda- 
mental type  as  that  of  aU  other  vertebrates — "  built 
on  a  primitive  plan  that  only  deviates  more  or  less  to 
one  side  or  other  in  its  very  constant  features,  and  still 
develops  and  refashions  itself  daily."  This  remodel- 
ling, or  transformation,  is  brought  about,  according  to 
Goethe,  by  the  constant  interaction  of  two  powerful 
constructive  forces — a  centripetal  force  within  the  or- 
ganism, the  "  tendency  to  specification,"  and  a  centrif- 
ugal force  without,  the  tendency  to  variation,  or  the 
"  idea  of  metamorphosis  " ;  the  former  corresponds  to 
what  we  now  call  heredity,  the  latter  to  the  modern  idea 
of  adaptation.  How  deeply  Goethe  had  penetrated  into 
their  character  by  these  philosophic  studies  of  the  "  con- 
struction and  reconstruction  of  organic  natures, "and 
how  far,  therefore,  he  must  be  considered  the  most  im- 
portant precursor  of  Darwin  and  Lamarck,*  may  be 
gathered  from  the  interesting  passages  from  his  works 
which  I  have  collected  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  my 
Natural  History  of  Creation.  These  evolutionary  ideas 
of  Goethe,  however,  like  analogous  ideas  of  Kant, 
Owen,  Treviranus,  and  other  philosophers  of  the  com- 
mencement of  the  century  (which  we  have  quoted  in 
the  above  work),  did  not  amount  to  more  than  certain 

*  Cf.  E.  Haeckel,  The  Systems  of  Darwin,  Goethe,  and  Lamarck. 
Lecture  given  at  Eisenach  in  1882. 

75 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

general  conclusions.  They  had  not  that  great  lever 
which  the  "natural  history  of  creation"  needed  for 
its  firm  foundation  on  a  criticism  of  the  dogma  of  fixed 
species ;  this  lever  was  first  supplied  by  Lamarck. 

The  first  thorough  attempt  at  a  scientific  establish- 
ment of  transformism  was  made  at  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century  by  the  great  French  scientist 
Jean  Lamarck,  the  chief  opponent  of  his  colleague, 
Cuvier,  at  Paris.  He  had  already,  in  1802,  in  his  Ob- 
servations on  Living  Organisms,  expressed  the  new 
ideas  as  to  the  mutability  and  formation  of  species, 
which  he  thoroughly  established  in  1809  in  the  two  vol- 
umes of  his  profound  work,  Philosophic  Zoologique.  In 
this  work  he  first  gave  expression  to  the  correct  idea, 
in  opposition  to  the  prevalent  dogma  of  fixed  species, 
that  the  organic  "  species  "  is  an  artificial  abstraction, 
a  concept  of  only  relative  value,  like  the  wider-ranging 
concepts  of  genus,  family,  order,  and  class.  He  went 
on  to  affirm  that  all  species  are  changeable,  and  have 
arisen  from  older  species  in  the  course  of  very  long 
periods  of  time.  The  common  parent  forms  from  which 
they  have  descended  were  originally  very  simple  and 
lowly  organisms.  The  first  and  oldest  of  them  arose 
by  abiogenesis.  While  the  type  is  preserved  by  hered- 
ity in  the  succession  of  generations,  adaptation,  on  the 
other  hand,  effects  a  constant  modification  of  the  species 
by  change  of  habits  and  the  exercise  of  the  various  or- 
gans. Even  our  human  organism  has  arisen  in  the 
same  natural  manner,  by  gradual  transformation,  from 
a  group  of  pithecoid  mammals.  For  all  these  phenom- 
ena— indeed,  for  all  phenomena  both  in  nature  and  in 
the  mind — Lamarck  takes  exclusively  mechanical, 
physical,  and  chemical  activities  to  be  the  true  efficient 
causes.  His  magnificent  Philosophic  Zoologique  con- 

76 


THE    HISTORY    OF   OUR    SPECIES 

tains  all  the  elements  of  a  purely  monistic  system  of 
nature  on  the  basis  of  evolution.  I  have  fully  treated 
these  achievements  of  Lamarck  in  the  fourth  chapter 
of  my  Anthropogeny,  and  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the 
Natural  History  of  Creation. 

Science  had  now  to  wait  until  this  great  effort  to  give 
a  scientific  foundation  to  the  theory  of  evolution  should 
shatter  the  dominant  myth  of  a  "  specific  creation,  and 
open  out  the  path  of  natural "  development.  In  this 
respect  Lamarck  was  not  more  successful  in  resisting 
the  conservative  authority  of  his  great  opponent,  Cuvier, 
than  was  his  colleague  and  sympathizer,  Geoffrey  St. 
''Hilaire,  twenty  years  later.  The  famous  controversies 
which  he  had  with  Cuvier  in  the  Parisian  Academy  in 
1830  ended  with  the  complete  triumph  of  the  latter. 
I  have  elsewhere  fully  described  these  conflicts,  in 
which  Goethe  took  so  lively  an  interest.  The  great  ex- 
pansion which  the  study  of  biology  experienced  at  that 
time,  the  abundance  of  interesting  discoveries  in  com- 
parative anatomy  and  physiology,  the  establishment 
of  the  cellular  theory,  and  the  progress  of  ontogeny, 
gave  zoologists  and  botanists  so  overwhelming  a  flood 
of  welcome  material  to  deal  with  that  the  difficult  and 
obscure  question  of  the  origin  of  species  was  easily  for- 
gotten for  a  time.  People  rested  content  with  the  old 
dogma  of  creation.  Even  when  Charles  Lyell  refuted 
Cuvier's  extraordinary  "  catastrophic  theory  "  in  his 
Principles  of  Geology,  in  1830,  and  vindicated  a  nat- 
ural, continuous  evolution  for  the  inorganic  structure 
of  our  planet,  his  simple  principle  of  continuity  found 
no  one  to  apply  it  to  the  inorganic  world.  The  rudi- 
ments of  a  natural  phylogeny  which  were  buried  in 
Lamarck's  works  were  as  completely  forgotten  as  the 
germ  of  a  natural  ontogeny  which  Caspar  Friedrich 
7  77 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

Wolff  had  given  fifty  years  earlier  in  his  Theory  of 
Generation.  In  both  cases  a  full  half-century  elapsed 
before  the  great  idea  of  a  natural  development  won 
a  fitting  recognition.  Only  when  Darwin  (in  1859) 
approached  the  solution  of  the  problem  from  a  differ- 
ent side  altogether,  and  made  a  happy  use  of  the 
rich  treasures  of  empirical  knowledge  which  had 
accumulated  in  the  mean  time,  did  men  begin  to 
think  once  more  of  Lamarck  as  his  great  precursor. 

The  unparalleled  success  of  Charles  Darwin  is  well 
known.  It  shows  him  to-day,  at  the  close  of  the  cen- 
tury, to  have  been,  if  not  the  greatest,  at  least  the  most 
effective  of  its  distinguished  scientists.  No  other  of 
the  many  great  thinkers  of  our  time  has  achieved  so 
magnificent,  so  thorough,  and  so  far-reaching  a  suc- 
cess with  a  single  classical  work  as  Darwin  did  in  1859 
with  his  famous  Origin  of  Species.  It  is  true  that  the 
reform  of  comparative  anatomy  and  physiology  by 
Johannes  Miiller  had  inaugurated  a  new  and  fertile 
epoch  for  the  whole  of  biology,  that  the  establishment 
of  the  cellular  theory  by  Schleiden  and  Schwann,  the 
reform  of  ontogeny  by  Baer,  and  the  formulation  of 
the  law  of  substance  by  Robert  Mayer  and  Helmholz 
were  scientific  facts  of  the  first  importance;  but  no 
one  of  them  has  had  so  profound  an  influence  on  the 
whole  structure  of  human  knowledge  as  Darwin's 
theory  of  the  natural  origin  of  species.  For  it  at  once 
gave  us  the  solution  of  the  mystic  "  problem  of  crea- 
tion," the  great  "  question  of  all  questions  " — the  prob- 
lem of  the  true  character  and  origin  of  man  himself. 

If  we  compare  the  two  great  founders  of  transform- 
ism,  we  find  in  Lamarck  a  preponderant  inclination  to 
deduction,  and  to  forming  a  completely  monistic  scheme 
of  nature ;  in  Darwin  we  have  a  predominant  applica- 

78 


THE    HISTORY    OF    OUR    SPECIES 

tion  of  induction,  and  a  prudent  concern  to  establish 
the  different  parts  of  the  theory  of  selection  as  firmly 
as  possible  on  a  basis  of  observation  and  experiment. 
While  the  French  scientist  far  outran  the  then  limits 
of  empirical  knowledge,  and  rather  sketched  the  pro- 
gramme of  future  investigation,  the  English  empiri- 
cist was  mainly  preoccupied  about  securing  a  unifying 
principle  of  interpretation  for  a  mass  of  empirical 
knowledge  which  had  hitherto  accumulated  without 
being  understood.  We  can  thus  understand  how  it 
was  that  the  success  of  Darwin  was  just  as  overwhelm- 
ing as  that  of  Lamarck  was  evanescent.  Darwin, 
however,  had  not  only  the  signal  merit  of  bringing 
all  the  results  of  the  various  biological  sciences  to  a 
common  focus  in  the  principle  of  descent,  and  thus 
giving  them  a  harmonious  interpretation,  but  he  also 
discovered,  in  the  principle  of  selection,  that  direct 
cause  of  transformation  which  Lamarck  had  missed. 
In  applying,  as  a  practical  breeder,  the  experience  of 
artificial  selection  to  organisms  in  a  state  of  nature, 
and  in  recognizing  in  the  "  struggle  for  life  "  the  se- 
lective principle  of  natural  selection,  Darwin  created 
his  momentous  "  theory  of  selection,"  which  is  what 
we  properly  call  Darwinism. 

One  of  the  most  pressing  of  the  many  important 
tasks  which  Darwin  proposed  to  modern  biology  was 
the  reform  of  the  zoological  and  botanical  system. 
Since  the  innumerable  species  of  animals  and  plants 
were  not  created  by  a  supernatural  miracle,  but  evolved 
by  natural  processes,  their  ancestral  tree  is  their  "  nat- 
ural system."  The  first  attempt  to  frame  a  system  in 
this  sense  was  made  by  myself  in  1866,  in  my  General 
Morphology  of  Organisms.  The  first  volume  of  this 
work  ("  General  Anatomy  ")  dealt  with  the  "  mechani- 

79 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

cal  science  of  the  developed  forms  " ;  the  second  volume 
("General  Evolution")  was  occupied  with  the  science 
of  the  "  developing  forms."  The  systematic  introduc- 
tion to  the  latter  formed  a  "  genealogical  survey  of  the 
natural  system  of  organisms."  Until  that  time  the 
term  "evolution"  had  been  taken  to  mean  exclusively, 
both  in  zoology  and  botany,  the  development  of  indi- 
vidual organisms — embryology,  or  metamorphic  sci- 
ence. I  established  the  opposite  view,  that  this  his- 
tory of  the  embryo  (ontogeny)  must  be  completed  by  a 
second,  equally  valuable,  and  closely  connected  branch 
of  thought — the  history  of  the  race  (phylogeny).  Both 
these  branches  of  evolutionary  science  are,  in  my  opin- 
ion, in  the  closest  causal  connection ;  this  arises  from 
the  reciprocal  action  of  the  laws  of  heredity  and  adap- 
tation ;  it  has  a  precise  and  comprehensive  expression 
in  my  *  fundamental  law  of  biogeny." 

As  the  new  views  I  had  put  forward  in  my  General 
Morphology  met  with  very  little  notice,  and  still  less 
acceptance,  from  my  scientific  colleagues,  in  spite  of 
their  severely  scientific  setting,  I  thought  I  would 
make  the  most  important  of  them  accessible  to  a  wider 
circle  of  informed  readers  by  a  smaller  work,  written 
in  a  more  popular  style.  This  was  done  in  1868,  in 
The  Natural  History  of  Creation  (a  series  of  popular 
scientific  lectures  on  evolution  in  general,  and  the  sys- 
tems of  Darwin,  Goethe,  and  Lamarck  in  particular). 
If  the  success  of  my  General  Morphology  was  far  below 
my  reasonable  anticipation,  that  of  The  Natural  His- 
tory of  Creation  went  far  beyond  it.  In  a  period  of 
thirty  years  nine  editions  and  twelve  different  transla- 
tions of  it  have  appeared.  In  spite  of  its  great  defects, 
the  book  has  contributed  much  to  the  popularization 
of  the  main  ideas  of  modern  evolution.  Still,  I  could 

80 


THE    HISTORY   OF   OUR   SPECIES 

only  give  the  barest  outlines  in  it  of  my  chief  object, 
the  phylogenetic  construction  of  a  natural  system.  I 
have,  therefore,  given  the  complete  proof,  which  is 
wanting  in  the  earlier  work,  of  the  phylogenetic  sys- 
tem in  a  subsequent  larger  work,  my  Systematic  Phylog- 
eny  (outlines  of  a  natural  system  of  organisms  on  the 
basis  of  their  specific  development).  The  first  volume 
of  it  deals  with  the  protists  and  plants  (1894),  the  second 
with  the  invertebrate  animals  (1896),  the  third  with  the 
vertebrates  (1895).  The  ancestral  tree  of  both  the 
smaller  and  the  larger  groups  is  carried  on  in  this 
work  as  far  as  my  knowledge  of  the  three  great 
"  ancestral  documents  " — palaeontology,  ontogeny,  and 
morphology — qualified  me  to  extend  it. 

I  had  already,  in  my  General  Morphology  (at  the 
end  of  the  fifth  book),  described  the  close  causative 
connection  which  exists,  in  my  opinion,  between  the 
two  branches  of  organic  evolution  as  one  of  the  most 
important  ideas  of  transformism,  and  I  had  framed  a 
precise  formula  for  it  in  a  number  of  "  theses  on  the 
causal  nexus  of  biontic  and  phyletic  development " : 
"  Ontogenesis  is  a  brief  and  rapid  recapitulation  of  phy- 
logenesis, determined  by  the  physiological  functions  of 
heredity  (generation)  and  adaptation  (maintenance)." 
Darwin  himself  had  emphasized  the  great  significance 
of  his  theory  for  the  elucidation  of  embryology  in  1859, 
and  Fritz  Miiller  had  endeavored  to  prove  it  as  regards 
the  Crustacea  in  the  able  little  work,  Facts  and  Argu- 
ments for  Darwin  (1864).  My  own  task  has  been  to 
prove  the  universal  application  and  the  fundamental 
importance  of  the  biogenetic  law  in  a  series  of  works, 
especially  in  the  Biology  of  the  Calcispongiae  (1872),  and 
in  Studies  on  the  Gastraea  Theory  (1873-1884).  The 
theory  of  the  homology  of  the  germinal  layers  and  of 

81 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

the  relations  of  palingenesis  to  cenogenesis  which  I  have 
exposed  in  them  has  been  confirmed  subsequently  by 
a  number  of  works  of  other  zoologists.  That  theory 
makes  it  possible  to  follow  nature's  law  of  unity  in  the 
innumerable  variations  of  animal  embryology  ;  it  gives 
us  for  their  ancestral  history  a  common  derivation  from 
a  simple  primitive  stem  form. 

The  far-seeing  founder  of  the  theory  of  descent, 
Lamarck,  clearly  recognized  in  1809  that  it  was  of  uni- 
versal application;  that  even  man  himself,  the  most 
highly  developed  of  the  mammals,  is  derived  from  the 
same  stem  as  all  the  other  mammals ;  and  that  this  in 
its  turn  belongs  to  the  same  older  branch  of  the  ances- 
tral tree  as  the  rest  of  the  vertebrates.  He  had  even 
indicated  the  agencies  by  which  it  might  be  possible  to 
explain  man's  descent  from  the  apes  as  the  nearest  re- 
lated mammals.  Darwin,  who  was,  naturally,  of  the 
same  conviction,  purposely  avoided  this  least  accepta- 
ble consequence  of  his  theory  in  his  chief  work  in  1859, 
and  put  it  forward  for  the  first  time  in  his  Descent  of 
Man  in  1871.  In  the  mean  time  (1863)  Huxley  had 
very  ably  discussed  this  most  important  consequence 
of  evolution  in  his  famous  Place  of  Man  in  Nature. 
With  the  aid  of  comparative  anatomy  and  ontogeny, 
and  the  support  of  the  facts  of  palaeontology,  Huxley 
proved  that  the  "  descent  of  man  from  the  ape  "  is  a 
necessary  consequence  of  Darwinism,  and  that  no  other 
scientific  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  human  race 
is  possible.  Of  the  same  opinion  was  Karl  Gegenbaur, 
the  most  distinguished  representative  of  comparative 
anatomy,  who  lifted  his  science  to  a  higher  level  by 
a  consistent  and  ingenious  application  of  the  theory  of 
descent. 

As  a  further  consequence  of  the  "  pithecoid  theory  " 

82 


THE    HISTORY    OF    OUR    SPECIES 

(the  theory  of  the  descent  of  man  from  the  ape)  there 
now  arose  the  difficult  task  of  investigating,  not  only 
the  nearest  related  mammal  ancestors  of  man  in  the 
Tertiary  epoch,  but  also  the  long  series  of  the  older  ani- 
mal ancestors  which  had  lived  in  earlier  periods  of  the 
earth's  history  and  been  developed  in  the  course  of 
countless  millions  of  years.  I  had  made  a  start  with 
the  hypothetical  solution  of  this  great  historic  problem 
in  my  General  Morphology ;  a  further  development  of 
it  appeared  in  1874  m  my  Anthropogeny  (first  section, 
Origin  of  the  Individual ;  second  section,  Origin  of  the 
Race).  The  fourth,  enlarged,  edition  of  this  work 
(1891)  contains  that  theory  of  the  development  of  man 
which  approaches  nearest,  in  my  own  opinion,  to  the 
still  remote  truth,  in  the  light  of  our  present  knowledge 
of  the  documentary  evidence.  I  was  especially  pre- 
occupied in  its  composition  to  use  the  three  empirical 
"  documents  " — palaeontology,  ontogeny,  and  morphol- 
ogy (or  comparative  anatomy) — as  evenly  and  har- 
moniously as  possible.  It  is  true  that  my  hypotheses 
were  in  many  cases  supplemented  and  corrected  in  de- 
tail by  later  phylogenetic  research ;  yet  I  am  convinced 
that  the  ancestral  tree  of  human  origin  which  I  have 
sketched  therein  is  substantially  correct.  For  the  his- 
torical succession  of  vertebrate  fossils  corresponds  com- 
pletely with  the  morphological  evolutionary  scale  which 
is  revealed  to  us  by  comparative  anatomy  and  ontogeny. 
After  the  Silurian  fishes  come  the  dipnoi  of  the  Devon- 
ian period — the  Carboniferous  amphibia,  the  Permian 
reptilia,  and  the  Mesozoic  mammals.  Of  these,  again, 
the  lowest  forms,  the  monotremes,  appear  first  in  the 
Triassic  period,  the  marsupials  in  the  Jurassic,  and 
then  the  oldest  placentals  in  the  Cretaceous.  Of  the 
piacentals,  in  turn,  the  first  to  appear  in  the  oldest  Ter- 

83 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

tiary  period  (the  Eocene)  are  the  lowest  primates,  the 
prosimiae,  which  are  followed  by  the  simiae  in  the  Mio- 
cene. Of  the  catarrhinae,  the  cynopitheci  precede  the 
anthropomorpha ;  from  one  branch  of  the  latter,  dur- 
ing the  Pliocene  period,  arises  the  ape-man  without 
speech  (the  pithecanthropus  alalus) ;  and  from  him  de- 
scends, finally,  speaking  man. 

The  chain  of  our  earlier  invertebrate  ancestors  is 
much  more  difficult  to  investigate  and  much  less  safe 
than  this  tree  of  our  vertebrate  predecessors ;  we  have 
no  fossilized  relics  of  their  soft,  boneless  structures,  so 
palaeontology  can  give  us  no  assistance  in  this  case. 
The  evidence  of  comparative  anatomy  and  ontogeny, 
therefore,  becomes  all  the  more  important.  Since  the 
human  embryo  passes  through  the  same  chordula-stage 
as  the  germs  of  all  other  vertebrates,  since  it  evolves, 
similarly,  out  of  two  germinal  layers  of  a  gastrula,  we 
infer,  in  virtue  of  the  biogenetic  law,  the  early  existence 
of  corresponding  ancestral  forms — vermalia,  gastrae- 
ada,  etc.  Most  important  of  all  is  the  fact  that  the 
human  embryo,  like  that  of  all  other  animals,  arises 
originally  from  a  single  cell ;  for  this  "  stem-cell " 
(cytula) — the  impregnated  egg  cell — points  indubitably 
to  a  corresponding  unicellular  ancestor,  a  primitive, 
Laurentian  protozoon. 

For  the  purpose  of  our  monistic  philosophy,  however, 
it  is  a  matter  of  comparative  indifference  how  the  suc- 
cession of  our  animal  predecessors  may  be  confirmed 
in  detail.  Sufficient  for  us,  as  an  incontestable  his- 
torical fact,  is  the  important  thesis  that  man  descends 
immediately  from  the  ape,  and  secondarily  from  a  long 
series  of  lower  vertebrates.  I  have  laid  stress  on  the 
logical  proof  of  this  "  pithecometra-thesis  "  in  the  sev- 
enth book  of  the  General  Morphology:  "The  thesis 

84 


THE    HISTORY   OF   OUR   SPECIES 

that  man  has  been  evolved  from  lower  vertebrates,  and 
immediately  from  the  simiae,  is  a  special  inference 
which  results  with  absolute  necessity  from  the  general 
inductive  law  of  the  theory  of  descent." 

For  the  definitive  proof  and  establishment  of  this 
fundamental  pithecometra-thesis  the  palaeontological 
discoveries  of  the  last  thirty  years  are  of  the  greatest 
importance ;  in  particular,  the  astonishing  discoveries 
of  a  number  of  extinct  mammals  of  the  Tertiary  period 
have  enabled  us  to  draw  up  clearly  in  its  main  outlines 
the  evolutionary  history  of  this  most  important  class 
of  animals,  from  the  lowest  oviparous  monotremes  up 
to  man.  The  four  chief  groups  of  the  placentals,  the 
heterogeneous  legions  of  the  carnassia,  the  rodentia, 
the  ungulata,  and  the  primates,  seem  to  be  separated 
by  profound  gulfs,  when  we  confine  our  attention  to 
their  representatives  of  to-day.  But  these  gulfs  are 
completely  bridged,  and  the  sharp  distinctions  of  the 
four  legions  are  entirely  lost,  when  we  compare  their 
extinct  predecessors  of  the  Tertiary  period,  and  when 
we  go  back  into  the  Eocene  twilight  of  history,  in 
the  oldest  part  of  the  Tertiary  period — at  least  three 
million  years  ago.  There  we  find  the  great  sub- 
class of  the  placentals,  which  to-day  comprises  more 
than  two  thousand  five  hundred  species,  represented 
by  only  a  small  number  of  little,  insignificant  "pro- 
placentals";  and  in  these  prochoriata  the  characters 
of  the  four  divergent  legions  are  so  intermingled  and 
toned  down  that  we  cannot  in  reason  do  other  than 
consider  them  as  the  precursors  of  those  features.  The 
oldest  carnassia  (the  ictopsales),  the  oldest  rodentia  (the 
esthonychales) ,  the  oldest  ungulata  (the  condylarthrales) 
and  the  oldest  primates  (the  lemuravales),  all  have  the 
same  fundamental  skeletal  structure,  and  the  same  typ- 

85 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

ical  dentition  of  the  primitive  placentals,  consisting  of 
forty-four  teeth  (three  incisors,  one  canine,  four  pre- 
molars,  and  three  molars  in  each  half  of  the  jaw) ;  all 
are  characterized  by  the  small  size  and  the  imperfect 
structure  of  the  brain  (especially  of  its  chief  part,  the 
cortex,  which  does  not  become  a  true  "organ  of  thought" 
until  later  on  in  the  Miocene  and  Pliocene  representa- 
tives) ;  they  have  all  short  legs  and  five-toed,  flat-soled 
feet  (plantigrada) .  In  many  cases  among  these  oldest 
placentals  of  the  Eocene  period  it  was  very  difficult  to 
say  at  first  whether  they  should  be  classed  with  the 
carnassia,  rodentia,  ungulata,  or  primates;  so  very 
closely,  even  to  confusion,  do  these  four  groups  of  the 
placentals,  which  diverge  so  widely  afterwards,  ap- 
proach each  other  at  that  time.  Their  common  origin 
from  a  single  ancestral  group  follows  incontestably. 
These  prochoriata  lived  in  the  preceding  Cretaceous 
period  (more  than  three  million  years  ago),  and  were 
probably  developed  in  the  Jurassic  period  from  a  group 
of  insectivorous  marsupials  (amphitheria)  by  the  for- 
mation of  a  primitive  placenta  diffusa,  a  placenta  of 
the  simplest  type. 

But  the  most  important  of  all  the  recent  palaeonto- 
logical  discoveries  which  have  served  to  elucidate  the 
origin  of  the  placentals  relate  to  our  own  stem,  the  legion 
of  primates.  Formerly  fossil  remains  of  the  primates 
were  very  scarce.  Even  Cuvier,  the  great  founder  of 
palaeontology,  maintained  until  his  last  day  (1832)  that 
there  were  no  fossilized  primates ;  he  had  himself,  it  is 
true,  described  the  skull  of  an  Eocene  prosimias  (adapis), 
but  he  had  wrongly  classed  it  with  the  ungulata.  How- 
ever, during  the  last  twenty  years  a  fair  number  of  well- 
preserved  fossilized  skeletons  of  prosimias  and  simiae 
have  been  discovered;  in  them  we  find  all  the  chief 

86 


THE    HISTORY   OF    OUR    SPECIES 

intermediate  members  which  complete  the  connect- 
ing chain  of  ancestors  from  the  oldest  prosimiae  to 
man. 

The  most  famous  and  most  interesting  of  these  dis- 
coveries is  the  fossil  ape-man  of  Java,  the  much-talked- 
of  pithecanthropus  erectus,  found  by  a  Dutch  military 
doctor,  Eugen  Dubois,  in  1894.  It  is  in  truth  the  much- 
sought  "  missing  link/'  supposed  to  be  wanting  in  the 
chain  of  primates,  which  stretches  unbroken  from  the 
lowest  catarrhinae  to  the  highest -developed  man.  I 
have  dealt  exhaustively  with  the  significance  of  this  dis- 
covery in  the  paper  which  I  read  on  August  26,  1898, 
at  the  Fourth  International  Zoological  Congress  at 
Cambridge.*  The  palaeontologist,  who  knows  the  con- 
ditions of  the  formation  and  preservation  of  fossils,  will 
think  the  discovery  of  the  pithecanthropus  an  unusu- 
ally lucky  accident.  The  apes,  being  arboreal,  seldom 
came  into  the  circumstances  (unless  they  happened  to 
fall  into  the  water)  which  would  secure  the  preserva- 
tion and  petrifaction  of  their  skeleton.  Thus,  by  the 
discovery  of  this  fossil  man-monkey  of  Java  the  descent 
of  man  from  the  ape  has  become  just  as  clear  and  certain 
from  the  palaeontological  side  as  it  was  previously  from 
the  evidence  of  comparative  anatomy  and  ontogeny. 
We  now  have  all  the  principal  documents  which  tell 
the  history  of  our  race. 

*  Vide  the  translation  of  Dr.  Hans  Gadow :  The  Last  Link. 
(A.  &>  C.  Black.) 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  NATURE  OF  THE  SOUL 

Fundamental  Importance  of  Psychology — Its  Definition  and  Meth« 
ods — Divergence  of  Views  Thereon — Dualistic  and  Monistic 
Psychology — Relation  to  the  Law  of  Substance — Confusion 
of  Ideas  —  Psychological  Metamorphoses  :  Kant,  Virchow, 
Du  Bois-Reymond — Methods  of  Research  of  Psychic  Science — 
Introspective  Method  (Self-Observation) — Exact  Method  (Psy- 
cho-Physics)— Comparative  Method  (Animal  Psychology) — 
Psychological  Change  of  Principles  :  Wundt — Folk-Psychol- 
ogy and  Ethnography  :  Bastian — Ontogenetic  Psychology : 
Preyer — Phylogenetic  Psychology  :  Darwin,  Romanes 

FHE  phenomena  which  are  comprised  under  the  title 
of  the  "  life  of  the  soul/'  or  the  psychic  activity, 
are,  on  the  one  hand,  the  most  important  and  interest- 
ing, on  the  other  the  most  intricate  and  problematical, 
of  all  the  phenomena  we  are  acquainted  with.  As 
the  knowledge  of  nature,  the  object  of  the  present 
philosophic  study,  is  itself  a  part  of  the  life  of  the  soul, 
and  as  anthropology,  and  even  cosmology,  presuppose 
a  correct  knowledge  of  the  "psyche,"  we  may  regard 
psychology,  the  scientific  study  of  the  soul,  both  as 
the  foundation  and  the  postulate  of  all  other  sciences. 
From  another  point  of  view  it  is  itself  a  part  of  philoso- 
phy, or  physiology,  or  anthropology. 

The  great  difficulty  of  establishing  it  on  a  naturalistic 
basis  arises  from  the  fact  that  psychology,  in  turn, 

88 


THE    NATURE    OF    THE    SOUL 

presupposes  a  correct  acquaintance  with  the  human 
organism,  especially  the  brain,  the  chief  organ  of 
psychic  activity.  The  great  majority  of  "psycholo- 
gists "  have  little  or  no  acquaintance  with  these  ana- 
tomical foundations  of  the  soul,  and  thus  it  happens 
that  in  no  other  science  do  we  find  such  contradictions 
and  untenable  notions  as  to  its  proper  meaning  and  its 
essential  object  as  are  current  in  psychology.  This 
confusion  has  become  more  and  more  palpable  during 
the  last  thirty  years,  in  proportion  as  the  immense 
progress  of  anatomy  and  physiology  has  increased  our 
knowledge  of  the  structure  and  the  functions  of  the 
chief  psychic  organ. 

What  we  call  the  soul  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  natural 
phenomenon ;  I  therefore  consider  psychology  to  be  a 
branch  of  natural  science — a  section  of  physiology. 
Consequently,  I  must  emphatically  assert  from  the 
commencement  that  we  have  no  different  methods  of 
research  for  that  science  than  for  any  of  the  others; 
we  have  in  the  first  place  observation  and  experiment, 
in  the  second  place  the  theory  of  evolution,  and  in  the 
third  place  metaphysical  speculation,  which  seek  to 
penetrate  as  far  as  possible  into  the  cryptic  nature  of 
the  phenomena  by  inductive  and  deductive  reasoning. 
However,  with  a  view  to  a  thorough  appreciation  of 
the  question,  we  must  first  of  all  put  clearly  before  the 
reader  the  antithesis  of  the  dualistic  and  the  monistic 
theories. 

The  prevailing  conception  of  the  psychic  activity, 
which  we  contest,  considers  soul  and  body  to  be  two 
distinct  entities.  These  two  entities  can  exist  inde- 
pendently of  each  other;  there  is  no  intrinsic  neces- 
sity for  their  union.  The  organized  body  is  a  mortal, 
material  nature,  chemically  composed  of  living  proto- 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

plasm  and  its  compounds  (plasma-products).  The  soul, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  an  immortal,  immaterial  being, 
a  spiritual  agent,  whose  mysterious  activity  is  entirely 
incomprehensible  to  us.  This  trivial  conception  is, 
as  such,  spiritualistic,  and  its  contradictory  is,  in  a 
certain  sense,  materialistic.  It  is,  at  the  same  time, 
supernatural  and  transcendental,  since  it  affirms  the 
existence  of  forces  which  can  exist  and  operate  without 
a  material  basis ;  it  rests  on  the  assumption  that  out- 
side of  and  beyond  nature  there  is  a  "  spiritual,"  im- 
material world,  of  which  we  have  no  experience,  and 
of  which  we  can  learn  nothing  by  natural  means. 

This  hypothetical  "  spirit  world,"  which  is  supposed 
to  be  entirely  independent  of  the  material  universe, 
and  on  the  assumption  of  which  the  whole  artificial 
structure  of  the  dualistic  system  is  based,  is  purely  a 
product  of  poetic  imagination ;  the  same  must  be  said 
of  the  parallel  belief  in  the  "  immortality  of  the  soul," 
the  scientific  impossibility  of  which  we  must  prove 
more  fully  later  on  (chap.  xi.).  If  the  beliefs  which 
prevail  in  these  credulous  circles  had  a  sound  founda- 
tion, the  phenomena  they  relate  to  could  not  be  subject 
to  the  "  law  of  substance " ;  moreover,  this  single  ex- 
ception to  the  highest  law  of  the  cosmos  must  have  ap- 
peared very  late  in  the  history  of  the  organic  world, 
since  it  only  concerns  the  "  soul "  of  man  and  of  the 
higher  animals.  The  dogma  of  "  free  will,"  another 
essential  element  of  the  dualistic  psychology,  is  simi- 
larly irreconcilable  with  the  universal  law  of  substance. 

Our  own  naturalistic  conception  of  the  psychic  activ- 
ity sees  in  it  a  group  of  vital  phenomena,  which  are  de- 
pendent on  a  definite  material  substratum,  like  all  other 
phenomena.  We  shall  give  to  this  material  basis  of 
all  psychic  activity,  without  which  it  is  inconceivable, 

9° 


THE    NATURE    OF    THE    SOUL 

the  provisional  name  of  "  psychoplasm  " ;  and  for  this 
good  reason — that  chemical  analysis  proves  it  to  be  a 
body  of  the  group  we  call  protoplasmic  bodies  the  al- 
buminoid carbon-combinations  which  are  at  the  root 
of  all  vital  processes.  In  the  higher  animals,  which 
have  a  nervous  system  and  sense-organs,  "  neuro- 
plasm,"  the  nerve-material,  has  been  differentiated  out 
of  psychoplasm.  Our  conception  is,  in  this  sense,  ma- 
terialistic. It  is  at  the  same  time  empirical  and  nat- 
uralistic, for  our  scientific  experience  has  never  yet 
taught  us  the  existence  of  forces  that  can  dispense 
with  a  material  substratum,  or  of  a  spiritual  world 
over  and  above  the  realm  of  nature. 

Like  all  other  natural  phenomena,  the  psychic  proc- 
esses are  subject  to  the  supreme,  all-ruling  law  of  sub- 
stance ;  not  even  in  this  province  is  there  a  single  ex- 
ception to  this  highest  cosmological  law  (compare  chap, 
xii.).  The  phenomena  of  the  lowly  psychic  life  of  the 
unicellular  protist  and  the  plant,  and  of  the  lowest  ani- 
mal forms — their  irritability,  their  reflex  movements, 
their  sensitiveness  and  instinct  of  self-preservation — 
are  directly  determined  by  physiological  action  in  the 
protoplasm  of  their  cells — that  is,  by  physical  and 
chemical  changes  which  are  partly  due  to  heredity  and 
partly  to  adaptation.  And  we  must  say  just  the  same 
of  the  higher  psychic  activity  of  the  higher  animals  and 
man,  of  the  formation  of  ideas  and  concepts,  of  the  mar- 
vellous phenomena  of  reason  and  consciousness;  for 
the  latter  have  been  phylogenetically  evolved  from  the 
former,  and  it  is  merely  a  higher  degree  of  integration 
or  centralization,  of  association  or  combination  of  func- 
tions which  were  formerly  isolated,  that  has  elevated 
them  in  this  manner. 

The  first  task  of  every  science  is  the  clear  definition 
91 


THE   RIDDLE    OF  THE    UNIVERSE 

of  the  object  it  has  to  investigate.  In  no  science,  how- 
ever, is  this  preliminary  task  so  difficult  as  in  psychol- 
ogy ;  and  this  circumstance  is  the  more  remarkable 
since  logic,  the  science  of  defining,  is  itself  a  part  of 
psychology.  When  we  compare  all  that  has  been  said 
by  the  most  distinguished  philosophers  and  scientists 
of  all  ages  on  the  fundamental  idea  of  psychology,  we 
find  ourselves  in  a  perfect  chaos  of  contradictory  no- 
tions. What,  really,  is  the  "  soul  "?  What  is  its  re- 
lation to  the  "  mind  "?  What  is  the  inner  meaning  of 
"  consciousness "?  What  is  the  difference  between 
"  sensation  "  and  "  sentiment  "?  What  is  "  instinct  "? 
What  is  the  meaning  of  "  free  will  "?  What  is  "  pres- 
entation"? What  is  the  difference  between  "intel- 
lect "  and  "  reason  n  ?  What  is  the  true  nature  of  "  emo- 
tion "?  What  is  the  relation  between  all  these  "  psychic 
phenomena  "  and  the  "  body  "?  The  answers  to  these 
and  many  other  cognate  questions  are  infinitely  varied ; 
not  only  are  the  views  of  the  most  eminent  thinkers 
on  these  questions  widely  divergent,  but  even  the  same 
scientific  authority  has  often  completely  changed  his 
views  in  the  course  of  his  psychological  development. 
Indeed,  this  "  psychological  metamorphosis "  of  so 
many  thinkers  has  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  colos- 
sal confusion  of  ideas  which  prevails  in  psychology 
more  than  in  any  other  branch  of  knowledge. 

The  most  interesting  example  of  such  an  entire 
change  of  objective  and  subjective  psychological  opin- 
ions is  found  in  the  case  of  the  most  influential  leader 
of  German  philosophy,  Immanuel  Kant.  The  young, 
severely  critical  Kant  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
three  great  buttresses  of  mysticism — "  God,  freedom, 
and  immortality  " — were  untenable  in  the  light  of  "  pure 
reason";  the  older,  dogmatic  Kant  found  that  these 

92 


THE   NATURE    OF    THE    SOUL 

three  great  hallucinations  were  postulates  of  "  prac- 
tical reason/'  and  were,  as  such,  indispensable.  The 
more  the  distinguished  modern  school  of  "  Neokant- 
ians  "  urges  a  a  return  to  Kant "  as  the  only  possible 
salvation  from  the  frightful  jumble  of  modern  meta- 
physics, the  more  clearly  do  we  perceive  the  undeniable 
and  fatal  contradiction  between  the  fundamental  opin- 
ions of  the  young  and  the  older  Kant.  We  shall  re- 
turn to  this  point  later  on. 

Other  interesting  examples  of  this  change  of  views 
are  found  in  two  of  the  most  famous  living  scientists, 
R.  Virchow  and  E.  du  Bois-Reymond ;  the  metamor- 
phoses of  their  fundamental  views  on  psychology  can- 
not be  overlooked,  as  both  these  Berlin  biologists  have 
played  a  most  important  part  at  Germany's  greatest 
university  for  more  than  forty  years,  and  have,  there- 
fore, directly  and  indirectly,  had  a  most  profound  in- 
fluence on  the  modern  mind.  Rudolph  Virchow,  the 
eminent  founder  of  cellular  pathology,  was  a  pure  mon- 
ist  in  the  best  days  of  his  scientific  activity,  about  the 
middle  of  the  century;  he  passed  at  that  time  as  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  representatives  of  the  newly 
awakened  materialism,  which  appeared  in  1855,  espe- 
cially through  two  famous  works,  almost  contempo- 
raneous in  appearance — Ludwig  Biichner's  Matter  and 
Force  and  Carl  Vogt's  Superstition  and  Science.  Vir- 
chow published  his  general  biological  views  on  the  vital 
processes  in  man — which  he  takes  to  be  purely  me- 
chanical natural  phenomena  —  in  a  series  of  distin- 
guished papers  in  the  first  volumes  of  the  Archiv  fur 
pathologische  Anatomie,  which  he  founded.  The  most 
important  of  these  articles,  and  the  one  in  which  he 
most  clearly  expresses  his  monistic  views  of  that 
period,  is  that  on  "The  Tendencies  Towards  Unity 
*  93 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

in  Scientific  Medicine"  (1849).  It  was  certainly  not 
without  careful  thought,  and  a  conviction  of  its  philo- 
sophic value,  that  Virchow  put  this  "  medical  confes- 
sion of  faith  "  at  the  head  of  his  Collected  Essays  on 
Scientific  Medicine  in  1856.  He  defended  in  it,  clearly 
and  definitely,  the  fundamental  principles  of  monism, 
which  I  am  presenting  here  with  a  view  to  the  solu- 
tion of  the  world-problem ;  he  vindicated  the  exclusive 
title  of  empirical  science,  of  which  the  only  reliable 
sources  are  sense  and  brain  activity ;  he  vigorously 
attacked  anthropological  dualism,  the  alleged  "revela- 
tion," and  the  transcendental  philosophy,  with  their 
two  methods — "  faith  and  anthropomorphism . "  Above 
all,  he  emphasized  the  monistic  character  of  anthro- 
pology, the  inseparable  connection  of  spirit  and  body, 
of  force  and  matter.  "  I  am  convinced,"  he  exclaims, 
at  the  end  of  his  preface,  "that  I  shall  never  find 
myself  compelled  to  deny  the  thesis  of  the  unity  of 
human  nature."  Unhappily,  this  "  conviction  "  proved 
to  be  a  grave  error.  Twenty- eight  years  afterwards 
Virchow  represented  the  diametrically  opposite  view ; 
it  is  to  be  found  in  the  famous  speech  on  "  The  Liberty 
of  Science  in  Modern  States/'  which  he  delivered  at  the 
Scientific  Congress  at  Munich  in  1877,  and  which  con- 
tains attacks  that  1  have  repelled  in  my  Free  Science 
and  Free  Teaching  (1878). 

In  Emil  du  Bois-Reymond  we  find  similar  contra- 
dictions with  regard  to  the  most  important  and  funda- 
mental theses  of  philosophy.  The  more  completely 
the  distinguished  orator  of  the  Berlin  Academy  had 
defended  the  main  principles  of  the  monistic  philoso- 
phy, the  more  he  had  contributed  to  the  refutation  of 
vitalism  and  the  transcendental  view  of  life,  so  much 
the  louder  was  the  triumphant  cry  of  our  opponents 

94 


THE    NATURE    OF    THE    SOUL 

when  in  1872,  in  his  famous  Ignorabimus-Speech,  he 
spoke  of  consciousness  as  an  insoluble  problem,  and 
opposed  it  to  the  other  functions  of  the  brain  as  a  su- 
pernatural phenomenon.  I  return  to  the  point  in  the 
tenth  chapter. 

The  peculiar  character  of  many  of  the  psychic  phe- 
nomena, especially  of  consciousness,  necessitates  cer- 
tain modifications  of  our  ordinary  scientific  methods. 
We  have,  for  instance,  to  associate  with  the  customary 
objective,  external  observation,  the  introspective  method, 
the  subjective,  internal  observation  which  scrutinizes 
our  own  personality  in  the  mirror  of  consciousness. 
The  majority  of  psychologists  have  started  from  this 
"  certainty  of  the  ego  " :  "  Cogito  ergo  sum"  as  Des- 
cartes said — I  think,  therefore  I  am.  Let  us  first  cast 
a  glance  at  this  way  of  inquiry,  and  then  deal  with  the 
second,  complementary,  method. 

By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  theories  of  the  soul  which 
have  been  put  forward  during  the  last  two  thousand 
years  or  more  are  based  on  introspective  inquiry — that 
is,  on  "  self-observation,"  and  on  the  conclusions  which 
we  draw  from  the  association  and  criticism  of  these 
subjective  experiences.  Introspection  is  the  only  pos- 
sible method  of  inquiry  for  an  important  section  of 
psychology,  especially  for  the  study  of  consciousness. 
Hence  this  cerebral  function  occupies  a  special  posi- 
tion, and  has  been  a  more  prolific  source  of  philosophic 
error  than  any  of  the  others  (cf.  chap.  x.).  It  is,  how- 
ever, most  unsatisfactory,  and  it  leads  to  entirely  false 
or  incomplete  notions,  to  take  this  self-observation  of 
the  mind  to  be  the  chief,  or,  especially,  to  be  the  only 
source  of  mental  science,  as  has  happened  in  the  case 
of  many  and  distinguished  philosophers.  A  great 
number  of  the  principal  psychic  phenomena,  particu- 

95 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

larly  the  activity  of  the  senses  and  speech,  can  only  be 
studied  in  the  same 'way  as  every  other  vital  function 
of  the  organism — that  is,  firstly,  by  a  thorough  anatom- 
ical study  of  their  organs,  and,  secondly,  by  an  exact 
physiological  analysis  of  the  functions  which  depend 
on  them.  In  order,  however,  to  complete  this  external 
study  of  the  mental  life,  and  to  supplement  the  results 
of  internal  observation,  one  needs  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  human  anatomy,  histology,  ontogeny,  and 
physiology.  Most  of  our  so-called  "  psychologists  " 
have  little  or  no  knowledge  of  these  indispensable  foun- 
dations of  anthropology;  they  are,  therefore,  incom- 
petent to  pronounce  on  the  character  even  of  their  own 
"  soul."  It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that  the  distin- 
guished personality  of  one  of  these  psychologists  usu- 
ally offers  a  specimen  of  an  educated  mind  of  the  high- 
est civilized  races ;  it  is  the  last  link  of  a  long  ancestral 
chain,  and  the  innumerable  older  and  inferior  links  are 
indispensable  for  its  proper  understanding.  Hence  it 
is  that  most  of  the  psychological  literature  of  the  day  is 
so  much  waste  paper.  The  introspective  method  is  cer- 
tainly extremely  valuable  and  indispensable;  still  it 
needs  the  constant  co-operation  and  assistance  of  the 
other  methods. 

In  proportion  as  the  various  branches  of  the  human 
tree  of  knowledge  have  developed  during  the  century, 
and  the  methods  of  the  different  sciences  have  been 
perfected,  the  desire  has  grown  to  make  them  exact ; 
that  is,  to  make  the  study  of  phenomena  as  purely  em- 
pirical as  possible,  and  to  formulate  the  laws  that  result 
as  clearly  as  the  circumstances  permit — if  possible, 
mathematically.  The  latter  is,  however,  only  feasible 
in  a  small  province  of  human  knowledge,  especially  in 
those  sciences  in  which  there  is  question  of  measurable 

96 


THE   NATURE    OF    THE    SOUL 

quantities ;  in  mathematics,  in  the  first  place,  and  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent  in  astronomy,  mechanics,  and  a 
great  part  of  physics  and  chemistry.  Hence  these 
studies  are  called  "  exact  sciences  "  in  the  narrower 
sense.  It  is,  however,  productive  only  of  error  to  call 
all  the  physical  sciences  exact,  and  oppose  them  to  the 
historical,  mental,  and  moral  sciences.  The  greater 
part  of  physical  science  can  no  more  be  treated  as  an 
exact  science  than  history  can;  this  is  especially  true 
of  biology  and  of  its  subsidiary  branch,  psychology. 
As  psychology  is  a  part  of  physiology,  it  must,  as  a 
general  rule,  follow  the  chief  methods  of  that  science. 
It  must  establish  the  facts  of  psychic  activity  by  em- 
pirical methods  as  much  as  possible,  by  observation 
and  experiment,  and  it  must  then  gather  the  laws  oi 
the  mind  by  inductive  and  deductive  inferences  from 
its  observations,  and  formulate  them  with  the  utmost 
distinctness.  But,  for  obvious  reasons,  it  is  rarely  pos- 
sible to  formulate  them  mathematically.  Such  a  pro- 
cedure is  only  profitable  in  one  section  of  the  physiology 
of  the  senses ;  it  is  not  practicable  in  the  greater  part 
of  cerebral  physiology. 

One  small  section  of  physiology,  which  seems  amen« 
able  to  the  "  exact "  method  of  investigation,  has  been 
carefully  studied  for  the  last  twenty  years  and  raised 
to  the  position  of  a  separate  science  under  the  title  of 
psycho-physics.  Its  founders,  the  physiologists  Theo- 
dor  Fechner  and  Ernst  Heinrich  Weber,  first  of  all  close- 
ly investigated  the  dependence  of  sensations  on  the  ex- 
ternal stimuli  that  act  on  the  organs  of  sense,  and  par- 
ticularly the  quantitative  relation  between  the  strength 
of  the  stimulus  and  the  intensity  of  the  sensation.  They 
found  that  a  certain  minimum  strength  of  stimulus  is 
requisite  for  the  excitement  of  a  sensation,  and  that  a 

97 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

given  stimulus  must  be  varied  to  a  definite  amount 
before  there  is  any  perceptible  change  in  the  sensation. 
For  the  highest  sensations  (of  sight,  hearing,  and  press- 
ure) the  law  holds  good  that  their  variations  are  pro- 
portionate to  the  changes  in  the  strength  of  the  stimulus. 
From  this  empirical  "  law  of  Weber  "  Fechner  inferred; 
by  mathematical  operations,  his  "  fundamental  law  of 
psycho-physics,"  according  to  which  the  intensity  ol 
a  sensation  increases  in  arithmetical  progression,  the 
strength  of  the  stimulus  in  geometrical  progression. 
However,  Fechner's  law  and  other  psycho-physical  laws 
are  frequently  contested,  and  their  "  exactness "  is 
called  into  question.  In  any  case  modern  psycho- 
physics  has  fallen  far  short  of  the  great  hopes  with 
which  it  was  greeted  twenty  years  ago ;  the  field  of  its 
applicability  is  extremely  limited.  One  important  re- 
sult of  its  work  is  that  it  has  proved  the  application  of 
physical  laws  in  one,  if  only  a  small,  branch  of  the  life 
of  the  "  soul  " — an  application  which  was  long  ago  pos- 
tulated on  principle  by  the  materialist  psychology  for 
the  whole  province  of  mental  life.  In  this,  as  in  many 
other  branches  of  physiology,  the  "  exact "  method  has 
proved  inadequate  and  of  little  service.  It  is  the  ideal 
to  aim  at  everywhere,  but  it  is  unattainable  in  most 
cases.  Much  more  profitable  are  the  comparative  and 
genetic  methods. 

The  striking  resemblance  of  man's  psychic  activity 
to  that  of  the  higher  animals — especially  our  nearest 
relatives  among  the  mammals — is  a  familiar  fact. 
Most  uncivilized  races  still  make  no  material  distinc- 
tion between  the  two  sets  of  mental  processes,  as  the 
well-known  animal  fables,  the  old  legends,  and  the 
idea  of  the  transmigration  of  souls  prove.  Even  most 
of  the  philosophers  of  classical  antiquity  shared  the 


THE    NATURE    OF    THE    SOUL 

same  conviction,  and  discovered  no  essential  qualita- 
tive difference,  but  merely  a  quantitative  one,  between 
the  soul  of  man  and  that  of  the  brute.  Plato  him- 
self, who  was  the  first  to  draw  a  fundamental  distinc- 
tion between  soul  and  body,  made  one  and  the  same 
soul  (or  "  idea  ")  pass  through  a  number  of  animal  and 
human  bodies  in  his  theory  of  metempsychosis.  It  was 
Christianity,  intimately  connecting  faith  in  immortal- 
ity with  faith  in  God,  that  emphasized  the  essential 
difference  of  the  immortal  soul  of  man  from  the  mortal 
soul  of  the  brute.  In  the  dualistic  philosophy  the  idea 
prevailed  principally  through  the  influence  of  Des- 
cartes (1643) ;  he  contended  that  man  alone  had  a  true 
"  soul,"  and,  consequently,  sensation  and  free  will,  and 
that  the  animals  were  mere  automata,  or  machines, 
without  will  or  sensibility.  Ever  since  the  majority  of 
psychologists — including  even  Kant — have  entirely 
neglected  the  mental  life  of  the  brute,  and  restricted 
psychological  research  to  man:  human  psychology, 
mainly  introspective,  dispensed  with  the  fruitful  com- 
parative method,  and  so  remained  at  that  lower  point 
of  view  which  human  morphology  took  before  Cuvier 
raised  it  to  the  position  of  a  "  philosophic  science  "  by 
the  foundation  of  comparative  anatomy. 

Scientific  interest  in  the  psychic  activity  of  the  brute 
was  revived  in  the  second  half  of  the  last  century,  in 
connection  with  the  advance  of  systematic  zoology  and 
physiology.  A  strong  impulse  was  given  to  it  by  the 
work  of  Reimarus :  "  General  observations  on  the  in- 
stincts of  animals  "  (Hamburg,  1760).  At  the  same 
time  a  deeper  scientific  investigation  had  been  facili- 
tated by  the  thorough  reform  of  physiology  by  Jo- 
hannes Miiller.  This  distinguished  biologist,  having 
a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  whole ,  field  of  or- 

99  r 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

ganic  nature,  of  morphology,  and  of  physiology,  in- 
troduced the  "  exact  methods  "  of  observation  and  ex- 
periment into  the  whole  province  of  physiology,  and, 
with  consummate  skill,  combined  them  with  the  com- 
parative methods.  He  applied  them,  not  only  to  men- 
tal life  in  the  broader  sense  (to  speech,  senses,  and  brain- 
action),  but  to  all  the  other  phenomena  of  life.  The 
sixth  book  of  his  Manual  of  Human  Physiology  treats 
specially  of  the  life  of  the  soul,  and  contains  eighty 
pages  of  important  psychological  observations. 

During  the  last  forty  years  a  great  number  of  works 
on  comparative  animal  psychology  have  appeared, 
principally  occasioned  by  the  great  impulse  which 
Darwin  gave  in  1859  by  his  work  on  The  Origin  of 
Species,  and  by  the  application  of  the  idea  of  evolution 
to  the  province  of  psychology.  The  more  impotant 
of  these  works  we  owe  to  Romanes  and  Sir  J.  Lubbock, 
in  England ;  to  W.  Wundt,  L.  Biichner,  G.  Schneider, 
Fritz  Schultze,  and  Karl  Groos,  in  Germany  ;  to  Alfred 
Espinas  and  E.  Jourdan,  in  France ;  and  to  Tito  Vig- 
noli,  in  Italy. 

In  Germany,  Wilhelm  Wundt,  of  Leipzig,  is  consid- 
ered to  be  the  ablest  living  psychologist ;  he  has  the  in- 
estimable advantage  over  most  other  philosophers  of  a 
thorough  zoological,  anatomical,  and  physiological  ed- 
ucation. Formerly  assistant  and  pupil  of  Helmholz, 
Wundt  had  early  accustomed  himself  to  follow  the  ap- 
plication of  the  laws  of  physics  and  chemistry  through 
the  whole  field  of  physiology,  and,  consequently,  in 
the  sense  of  Johannes  Miiller,  in  psychology,  as  a  sub- 
section of  the  latter.  Starting  from  this  point  of  view, 
Wundt  published  his  valuable  "  Lectures  on  human 
and  animal  psychology  "  in  1863.  He  proved,  as  he 
himself  tells  us  in  the  preface,  that  the  theatre  of  the 


THE    NATURE   OF    THE    SOUL 

most  important  psychic  processes  is  in  the  "  unconscious 
soul/'  and  he  affords  us  "a  view  of  the  mechanism 
which,  in  the  unconscious  background  of  the  soul, 
manipulates  the  impressions  which  arise  from  the  ex- 
ternal stimuli."  What  seems  to  me,  however,  of  spe- 
cial importance  and  value  in  Wundt's  work  is  that  he 
"  extends  the  law  of  the  persistence  of  force  for  the 
first  time  to  the  psychic  world,  and  makes  use  of  a 
series  of  facts  of  electro-physiology  by  way  of  demon- 
stration." 

Thirty  years  afterwards  (1892)  Wundt  published  a 
second,  much  abridged  and  entirely  modified,  edition 
of  his  work.  The  important  principles  of  the  first  edi- 
tion are  entirely  abandoned  in  the  second,  and  the  mon- 
istic is  exchanged  for  a  purely  dualistic  stand-point. 
Wundt  himself  says  in  the  preface  to  the  second  edition 
that  he  has  emancipated  himself  from  the  fundamental 
errors  of  the  first,  and  that  he  "  learned  many  years 
ago  to  consider  the  work  a  sin  of  his  youth";  it "  weighed 
on  him  as  a  kind  of  crime,  from  which  he  longed  to  free 
himself  as  soon  as  possible."  In  fact,  the  most  impor- 
tant systems  of  psychology  are  completely  opposed  to 
each  other  in  the  two  editions  of  Wundt's  famous  Ob- 
servations. In  the  first  edition  he  is  purely  monistic  and 
materialistic,  in  the  second  edition  purely  dualistic 
and  spiritualistic.  In  the  one  psychology  is  treated 
as  a  physical  science,  on  the  same  laws  as  the  whole  of 
physiology,  of  which  it  is  only  a  part ;  thirty  years  af- 
terwards he  finds  psychology  to  be  a  spiritual  science, 
with  principles  and  objects  entirely  different  from  those 
of  physical  science.  This  conversion  is  most  clearly 
expressed  in  his  principle  of  psycho-physical  parallel- 
'ism,  according  to  which  "  every  psychic  event  has  a 
corresponding  physical  change  " ;  but  the  two  are  com- 

101 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

pletely  independent,  and  are  not  in  any  natural  causal 
connection.  This  complete  dualism  of  body  and  soul, 
of  nature  and  mind,  naturally  gave  the  liveliest  satis- 
faction to  the  prevailing  school-philosophy,  and  was 
acclaimed  by  it  as  an  important  advance,  especially 
seeing  that  it  came  from  a  distinguished  scientist  who 
had  previously  adhered  to  the  opposite  system  of  mon- 
ism. As  I  myself  continue,  after  more  than  forty  years' 
study,  in  this  "  narrow  "  position,  and  have  not  been 
able  to  free  myself  from  it  in  spite  of  all  my  efforts,  I 
must  naturally  consider  the  "  youthful  sin  "  of  the 
young  physiologist  Wundt  to  be  a  correct  knowledge 
of  nature,  and  energetically  defend  it  against  the  an- 
tagonistic view  of  the  old  philosopher  Wundt. 

This  entire  change  of  philosophical  principles,  which 
we  find  in  Wundt,  as  we  found  it  in  Kant,  Virchow, 
Du  Bois  -  Reymond,  Karl  Ernst  Baer,  and  others,  is 
very  interesting.  In  their  youth  these  able  and  tal- 
ented scientists  embrace  the  whole  field  of  biological 
research  in  a  broad  survey,  and  make  strenuous  efforts 
to  find  a  unifying,  natural  basis  for  their  knowledge ; 
in  their  later  years  they  have  found  that  this  is  not  com- 
pletely attainable,  and  so  they  entirely  abandon  the 
idea.  In  extenuation  of  these  psychological  metamor- 
phoses they  can,  naturally,  plead  that  in  their  youth 
they  overlooked  the  difficulties  of  the  great  task,  and 
misconceived  the  true  goal ;  with  the  maturer  judgment 
of  age  and  the  accumulation  of  experience  they  were 
convinced  of  their  errors,  and  discovered  the  true  path 
to  the  source  of  truth.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  possible 
to  think  that  great  scientists  approach  their  task  with 
less  prejudice  and  more  energy  in  their  earlier  years — 
that  their  vision  is  clearer  and  their  judgment  purer; 
the  experiences  of  later  years  sometimes  have  the  effect, 

102 


THE    NATURE    OF   THE    SOUL 

not  of  enriching,  but  of  disturbing,  the  mind,  and  with 
old  age  there  comes  a  gradual  decay  of  the  brain,  just 
as  happens  in  all  other  organs.  In  any  case,  this 
change  of  views  is  in  itself  an  instructive  psycho- 
logical fact ;  because,  like  many  other  forms  of 
change  of  opinion,  it  shows  that  the  highest  psychic 
functions  are  subject  to  profound  individual  changes 
in  the  course  of  life,  like  all  the  other  vital  proc- 
esses. 

For  the  profitable  construction  of  comparative  psy- 
chology it  is  extremely  important  not  to  confine  the  crit- 
ical comparison  to  man  and  the  brute  in  general,  but 
to  put  side  by  side  the  innumerable  gradations  of  their 
mental  activity.  Only  thus  can  we  attain  a  clear  knowl- 
edge of  the  long  scale  of  psychic  development  which 
runs  unbroken  from  the  lowest,  unicellular  forms  of 
life  up  to  the  mammals,  and  to  man  at  their  head.  But 
even  within  the  limits  of  our  own  race  such  gradations 
are  very  noticeable,  and  the  ramifications  of  the  "  psy- 
chic ancestral  tree  "  are  very  numerous.  The  psychic 
difference  between  the  crudest  savage  of  the  lowest 
grade  and  the  most  perfect  specimen  of  the  highest  civ- 
ilization is  colossal — much  greater  than  is  commonly 
supposed.  By  the  due  appreciation  of  this  fact,  espe- 
cially in  the  latter  half  of  the  century,  the  "Anthropol- 
ogy of  the  uncivilized  races  "  (Waitz)  has  received  a 
strong  support,  and  comparative  ethnography  has  come 
to  be  considered  extremely  important  for  psychological 
purposes.  Unfortunately,  the  enormous  quantity  of 
raw  material  of  this  science  has  not  yet  been  treated  in 
a  satisfactory  critical  manner.  What  confused  and 
mystic  ideas  still  prevail  in  this  department  may  be 
seen,  for  instance,  in  the  Volkergedanke  of  the  famous 
traveller,  Adolf  Bastian,  who,  though  a  prolific  writer, 

103 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

merely  turns  out  a  hopeless  mass  of  uncritical  compila- 
tion and  confused  speculation. 

The  most  neglected  of  all  psychological  methods, 
even  up  to  the  present  day,  is  the  evolution  of  the  soul ; 
yet  this  little-frequented  path  is  precisely  the  one  that 
leads  us  most  quickly  and  securely  through  the  gloomy 
primeval  forest  of  psychological  prejudices,  dogmas, 
and  errors,  to  a  clear  insight  into  many  of  the  chief 
psychic  problems.  As  I  did  in  the  other  branch  of  or- 
ganic evolution,  I  again  put  before  the  reader  the  two 
great  branches  of  the  science  which  I  differentiated  in 
1866  —  ontogeny  and  phylogeny.  The  ontogeny,  or 
embryonic  development,  of  the  soul,  individual  or  biontic 
psychogeny,  investigates  the  gradual  and  hierarchic 
development  of  the  soul  in  the  individual,  and  seeks  to 
learn  the  laws  by  which  it  is  controlled.  For  a  great 
part  of  the  life  of  the  mind  a  good  deal  has  been  done 
in  this  direction  for  centuries ;  rational  pedagogy  must 
have  set  itself  the  task  at  an  early  date  of  the  theoret- 
ical study  of  the  gradual  development  and  formative 
capacity  of  the  young  mind  that  was  committed  to  it 
for  education  and  formation.  Most  pedagogues,  how- 
ever, were  idealistic  or  dualistic  philosophers,  and  so 
they  went  to  work  with  all  the  prejudices  of  the  spir- 
itualistic psychology.  It  is  only  in  the  last  few  decades 
that  this  dogmatic  tendency  has  been  largely  super- 
seded even  in  the  school  by  scientific  methods ;  we  now 
find  a  greater  concern  to  apply  the  chief  laws  of  evolu- 
tion even  in  the  discussion  of  the  soul  of  the  child.  The 
raw  material  of  the  child's  soul  is  already  qualitatively 
determined  by  heredity  from  parents  and  ancestors; 
education  has  the  noble  task  of  bringing  it  to  a  perfect 
maturity  by  intellectual  instruction  and  moral  training 
— that  is,  by  adaptation.  Wilhelm  Preyer  was  the  first 

104 


THE    NATURE    OF   THE   SOUL 

to  lay  the  foundation  of  our  knowledge  of  the  early 
psychic  development  in  his  interesting  work  on  The 
Mind  of  the  Child.  Much  is  still  to  be  done  in  the 
study  of  the  later  stages  and  metamorphoses  of  the  in- 
dividual soul,  and  once  more  the  correct,  critical  ap- 
plication of  the  biogenetic  law  is  proving  a  guiding  star 
to  the  scientific  mind. 

A  new  and  fertile  epoch  of  higher  development 
dawned  for  psychology  and  all  other  biological  sciences 
when  Charles  Darwin  applied  the  principles  of  evolu- 
tion to  them  forty  years  ago.  The  seventh  chapter  of 
his  epoch-making  work  on  The  Origin  of  Species  is 
devoted  to  instinct.  It  contains  the  valuable  proof  that 
the  instincts  of  animals  are  subject,  like  all  other  vital 
processes,  to  the  general  laws  of  historic  development. 
The  special  instincts  of  particular  species  were  formed 
by  adaptation,  and  the  modifications  thus  acquired 
were  handed  on  to  posterity  by  heredity ;  in  their  for- 
mation and  preservation  natural  selection  plays  the 
same  part  as  in  the  transformation  of  every  other  physi- 
ological function.  Darwin  afterwards  developed  this 
fundamental  thought  in  a  number  of  works,  showing 
that  the  same  laws  of  "mental  evolution"  hold  good 
throughout  the  entire  organic  world,  not  less  in  man 
than  in  the  brute,  and  even  in  the  plant.  Hence  the 
unity  of  the  organic  world,  which  is  revealed  by  the 
common  origin  of  its  members,  applies  also  to  the  entire 
province  of  psychic  life,  from  the  simplest  unicellular 
organism  up  to  man. 

To  George  Romanes  we  owe  the  further  development 
of  Darwin's  psychology  and  its  special  application  to 
the  different  sections  of  psychic  activity.  Unfortunate- 
ly, his  premature  decease  prevented  the  completion  of 
the  great  work  which  was  to  reconstruct  every  section 

105 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

of  comparative  psychology  on  the  lines  of  monistic  evo- 
lution. The  two  volumes  of  this  work  which  were  com- 
pleted are  among  the  most  valuable  productions  of 
psychological  literature.  For,  conformably  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  our  modern  monistic  research,  his  first  care 
was  to  collect  and  arrange  all  the  important  facts  which 
have  been  empirically  established  in  the  field  of  com- 
parative psychology  in  the  course  of  centuries ;  in  the 
second  place,  these  facts  are  tested  with  an  objective 
criticism,  and  systematically  distributed  ;  finally,  such 
rational  conclusions  are  drawn  from  them  on  the  chief 
general  questions  of  psychology  as  are  in  harmony 
with  the  fundamental  principles  of  modern  monism. 
The  first  volume  of  Romanes's  work  bears  the  title  of 
Mental  Evolution  in  the  Animal  World ;  it  presents,  in 
natural  connection,  the  entire  length  of  the  chain  of 
psychic  evolution  in  the  animal  world,  from  the  simplest 
sensations  and  instincts  of  the  lowest  animals  to  the 
elaborate  phenomena  of  consciousness  and  reason  in 
the  highest.  It  contains  also  a  number  of  extracts 
from  a  manuscript  which  Darwin  left  "on  instinct," 
and  a  complete  collection  of  all  that  he  wrote  in  the 
province  of  psychology. 

The  second  and  more  important  volume  of  Romanes's 
work  treats  of  "  Mental  evolution  in  man  and  the  origin 
of  human  faculties."  The  distinguished  psychologist 
gives  a  convincing  proof  in  it  "  that  the  psychological 
barrier  between  man  and  the  brute  has  been  overcome." 
Man's  power  of  conceptual  thought  and  of  abstraction 
has  been  gradually  evolved  from  the  non-conceptual 
stages  of  thought  and  ideation  in  the  nearest  related 
mammals.  Man's  highest  mental  powers — reason, 
speech,  and  conscience — have  arisen  from  the  lower 
stages  of  the  same  faculties  in  our  primate  ancestors 

1 06 


THE    NATURE    OF    THE    SOUL 

(the  simiae  and  prosimiae).  Man  has  no  single  mental 
faculty  which  is  his  exclusive  prerogative.  His  whole 
psychic  life  differs  from  that  of  the  nearest  related  mam- 
mals only  in  degree,  and  not  in  kind ;  quantitatively, 
not  qualitatively. 

I  recommend  those  of  my  readers  who  are  interested 
in  these  momentous  questions  of  psychology  to  study 
the  profound  work  of  Romanes.  I  am  completely  at' 
one  with  him  and  Darwin  in  almost  all  their  views  and 
convictions.  Wherever  an  apparent  discrepancy  is 
found  between  these  authors  and  my  earlier  produc- 
tions, it  is  either  a  case  of  imperfect  expression  on  my 
part  or  an  unimportant  difference  in  application  of 
principle.  For  the  rest,  it  is  characteristic  of  this 
"  science  of  ideas "  that  the  most  eminent  philosophers 
hold  entirely  antagonistic  views  on  its  fundamental 
notions. 


CHAPTER   VII 
PSYCHIC  GRADATIONS 

Psychological  Unity  of  Organic  Nature — Material  Basis  of  the 
Soul :  Psychoplasm — Scale  of  Sensation — Scale  of  Movement 
— Scale  of  Reflex  Action — Simple  and  Compound  Reflex  Ac- 
tion— Reflex  Action  and  Consciousness — Scale  of  Perception 
— Unconscious  and  Conscious  Perception — Scale  of  Memory 
— Unconscious  and  Conscious  Memory — Association  of  Per- 
ceptions— Instinct — Primary  and  Secondary  Instincts — Scale 
of  Reason — Language — Emotion  and  Passion — The  Will — 
Freedom  of  the  Will 

'T'HE  great  progress  which  psychology  has  made,  with 
the  assistance  of  evolution,  in  the  latter  half  of 
the  century  culminates  in  the  recognition  of  the  psy- 
chological unity  of  the  organic  world.  Comparative  psy- 
chology, in  co-operation  with  the  ontogeny  and  phy- 
logeny  of  the  psyche,  has  enforced  the  conviction  that 
organic  life  in  all  its  stages,  from  the  simplest  unicel- 
lular protozoon  up  to  man,  springs  from  the  same  ele- 
mentary forces  of  nature,  from  the  physiological  func- 
tions of  sensation  and  movement.  The  future  task  of 
scientific  psychology,  therefore,  is  not,  as  it  once  was, 
the  exclusively  subjective  and  introspective  analysis 
of  the  highly  developed  mind  of  a  philosopher,  but  the 
objective,  comparative  study  of  the  long  gradation  by 
which  man  has  slowly  arisen  through  a  vast  series  of 
lower  animal  conditions.  This  great  task  of  separat- 

108 


PSYCHIC   GRADATIONS 

ing  the  different  steps  in  the  psychological  ladder,  and 
proving  their  unbroken  phylogenetic  connection,  has 
only  been  seriously  attempted  during  the  last  ten  years, 
especially  in  the  splendid  work  of  Romanes.  We  must 
confine  ourselves  here  to  a  brief  discussion  of  a  few  of 
the  general  questions  which  that  gradation  has  sug- 
gested. 

All  the  phenomena  of  the  psychic  life  are,  without 
exception,  bound  up  with  certain  material  changes  in 
the  living  substance  of  the  body,  the  protoplasm.  We 
have  given  to  that  part  of  the  protoplasm  which  seems 
to  be  the  indispensable  substratum  of  psychic  life  the 
name  of  psychoplasm  (the  "  soul-substance,"  in  the 
monistic  sense) ;  in  other  words,  we  do  not  attribute 
any  peculiar  "  essence"  to  it,  but  we  consider  the  psyche 
to  be  merely  a  collective  idea  of  all  the  psychic  functions 
of  protoplasm.  In  this  sense  the  "soul"  is  merely  a 
physiological  abstraction  like  "assimilation"  or  "gene- 
ration." In  man  and  the  higher  animals,  in  accordance 
with  the  division  of  labor  of  the  organs  and  tissues,  the 
psychoplasm  is  a  differentiated  part  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, the  neuroplasm  of  the  ganglionic  cells  and  their 
'fibres.  In  the  lower  animals,  however,  which  have  no 
special  nerves  and  organs  of  sense,  and  in  the  plants, 
the  psychoplasm  has  not  yet  reached  an  independent 
differentiation.  Finally,  in  the  unicellular  protists, 
the  psychoplasm  is  identified  either  with  the  whole  of 
the  living  protoplasm  of  the  simple  cell  or  with  a  por- 
tion of  it.  In  all  cases,  in  the  lowest  as  well  as  the 
highest  stages  of  the  psychological  hierarchy,  a  cer- 
tain chemical  composition  and  a  certain  physical  ac- 
tivity of  the  psychoplasm  are  indispensable  before  the 
*  soul"  can  function  or  act.  That  is  equally  true  of 
the  elementary  psychic  function  of  the  plasmatic  sen- 
log 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

sation  and  movement  of  the  protozoa,  and  of  the  com- 
plex functions  of  the  sense-organs  and  the  brain  in  the 
higher  animals  and  man.  The  activity  of  the  psycho- 
plasm,  which  we  call  the  "  soul/'  is  always  connected 
with  metabolism. 

All  living  organisms,  without  exception,  are  sensi- 
tive ;  they  are  influenced  by  the  condition  of  their  en- 
vironment, and  react  thereon  by  certain  modifications 
in  their  own  structure.  Light  and  heat,  gravity  and 
electricity,  mechanical  processes  and  chemical  action 
in  the  environment,  act  as  stimuli  on  the  sensitive  psy- 
choplasm,  and  effect  changes  in  its  molecular  compo- 
sition. We  may  distinguish  the  following  five  chief 
stages  of  this  sensibility : 

I.  At  the  lowest  stage  of  organization  the  whole 
psychoplasm,  as  such,  is  sensitive,  and  reacts  on  the 
stimuli  from  without ;  that  is  the  case  with  the  lowest 
protists,  with  many  plants,  and  with  some  of  the  most 
rudimentary  animals. 

II.  At    the  second  stage  very  simple  and    undis- 
criminating  sense-organs  begin  to  appear  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  organism,  in  the  form  of  protoplasmic  fila- 
ments and  pigment  spots,  the  forerunners  of  the  nerves 
of  touch  and  the  eyes ;  these  are  found  in  some  of  the 
higher  protists  and  in  many  of  the  lower  animals  and 
plants. 

III.  At  the  third  stage  specific  organs  of  sense,  each 
with  a  peculiar  adaptation,  have  arisen  by  differentia- 
tion out  of  these  rudimentary  processes :  there  are  the 
chemical  instruments  of  smell  and  taste,  and  the  phys- 
ical organs  of  touch,  temperature,  hearing,  and  sight. 
The  "  specific  energy  "  of  these  sense-organs  is  not  an 
original  inherent  property  of  theirs,  but  has  been  gain- 
ed by  functional  adaptation  and  progressive  heredity. 

no 


PSYCHIC   GRADATIONS 

IV.  The  fourth  stage  is  characterized  by  the  cen- 
tralization or  integration  of  the  nervous  system,  and, 
consequently,  of  sensation ;  by  the  association  of  the 
previously  isolated  or  localized  sensations  presentations 
arise,  though  they  still  remain  unconscious.      That 
is  the  condition  of  many  both  of  the  lower  and  the 
higher  animals. 

V.  Finally,  at  the  fifth  stage,  the  highest  psychic 
function,  conscious  perception,  is  developed  by  the  mir- 
roring of  the  sensations  in  a  central  part  of  the  nervous 
system,  as  we  find  in  man  and  the  higher  vertebrates, 
and  probably  in  some  of  the  higher  invertebrates,  not- 
ably the  articulata. 

All  living  organisms  without  exception  have  the 
faculty  of  spontaneous  movement,  in  contradistinction 
to  the  rigidity  and  inertia  of  unorganized  substances 
(e.g.,  crystals) ;  in  other  words,  certain  changes  of  place 
of  the  particles  occur  in  the  living  psychoplasm  from 
internal  causes,  which  have  their  source  in  its  own 
chemical  composition.  These  active  vital  movements 
are  partly  discovered  by  direct  observation  and  partly 
only  known  indirectly,  by  inference  from  their  effects. 
We  may  distinguish  five  stages  of  them. 

I.  At  the  lowest  stage  of  organic  life,  in  the  chro- 
macea,  and  many  protophyta  and  lower  metaphyta, 
we  perceive  only  those  movements  of  growth  which  are 
common  to  all  organisms.     They  are  usually  so  slow 
that  they  cannot  be  directly  observed  ;  they  have  to  be 
inferred  from  their  results — from  the  change  in  size  and 
form  of  the  growing  organism. 

II.  Many  protists,  particularly  unicellular  algae  of 
the  groups  of  diatomacea  and  desmidiacea,  accomplish 
a  kind  of  creeping  or  swimming  motion  by  secretion,  by 
ejecting  a  slimy  substance  at  one  side. 

in 


THE    RIDDLE   OF  THE    UNIVERSE 

III.  Other  organisms  which  float  in  water — for  in- 
stance, many  of  the  radiolaria,  siphonophora,  kteno- 
phora,  and  others — ascend  and  descend  by  altering 
their  specific  gravity,  sometimes  by  osmosis,  sometimes 
by  the  separation  or  squeezing-out  of  air. 

IV.  Many   plants,  especially   the    sensitive   plants 
(mimosa)  and  other  papilionacea,  effect  movements  of 
their  leaves  or  other  organs  by  change  of  pressure — 
that  is,  they  alter  the  strain  of  the  protoplasm,  and, 
consequently,   its  pressure  on  the  enclosing   elastic 
walls  of  the  cells. 

V.  The  most  important  of  all  organic  movements 
are  the  phenomena  of  contraction — i.e.,  changes  of  form 
at  the  surface  of  the  organism,  which  are  dependent  on 
a  twofold  displacement  of  their  elements ;  they  always 
involve  two  different  conditions  or  phases  of  motion — 
contraction  and  expansion.     Four  different  forms  of 
this  plasmatic  contraction  may  be  enumerated : 

(a)  Amoeboid  movement  (in  rhizopods,  blood-cells, 

pigment-cells,  etc.). 
(6)  A  similar  flow  of  protoplasm  within  enclosed 

cells. 

(c)  Vibratory  motion  (ciliary  movements)  in  infu- 

soria, spermatozoa,  ciliated  epithelial  cells. 

(d)  Muscular  movement  (in  most  animals). 

The  elementary  psychic  activity  that  arises  from  the 
combination  of  sensation  and  movement  is  called  reflex 
(in  the  widest  sense),  reflective  function,  or  reflex  action. 
The  movement — no  matter  what  kind  it  is — seems  in 
this  case  to  be  the  immediate  result  of  the  stimulus 
which  evoked  the  sensation;  it  has,  on  that  account, 
been  called  stimulated  motion  in  its  simplest  form  (in 
the  protists).  All  living  protoplasm  has  this  feature 
of  irritability.  Any  physical  or  chemical  change  in 

112 


PSYCHIC    GRADATIONS 

the  environment  may,  in  certain  circumstances,  act  as 
a  stimulus  on  the  psychoplasm,  and  elicit  or  "  release  " 
a  movement.  We  shall  see  later  on  how  this  impor- 
tant physical  concept  of  "  releasing  "  directly  connects 
the  simplest  organic  reflex  actions  with  similar  me- 
chanical phenomena  of  movement  in  the  inorganic 
world  (for  instance,  in  the  explosion  of  powder  by  a 
spark,  or  of  dynamite  by  a  blow).  We  may  distinguish 
the  following  seven  stages  in  the  scale  of  reflex  action : 

I.  At  the  lowest  stage  of  organization,  in  the  lowest 
protists,  the  stimuli   of   the  outer  world  (heat,  light, 
electricity,   etc.)   cause  in  the  indifferent  protoplasm 
only  those  indispensable   movements  of  growth  and 
nutrition  which  are  common  to  all  organisms,  and  are 
absolutely  necessary  for  their  preservation.     That  is 
also  the  case  in  most  of  the  plants. 

II.  In  the  case  of  many  freely  moving  protists  (es- 
pecially the  amoeba,  the  heliozoon,  and  the  rhizopod) 
the  stimuli  from  without  produce  on  every  spot  of  the 
unprotected  surface  of  the  unicellular  organism  exter- 
nal movements  which  take  the  form  of  changes  of  shape, 
and  sometimes  changes  of  place  (amoeboid  movement, 
pseudopod  formation,  the  extension  and  withdrawal  of 
what  look  like  feet) ;  these  indefinite,  variable  processes 
of  the  protoplasm  are  not  yet  permanent  organs.     In 
the  same  way,  general  organic  irritability  takes  the 
form  of  indeterminate  reflex  action  in  the  sensitive 
plants  and  the  lowest  metazoa ;  in  many  multicellular 
organisms  the  stimuli  may  be  conducted  from  one  cell 
to  another,  as  all  the  cells  are  connected  by  fine  fibres. 

III.  Many  protists,  especially  the  more  highly  de- 
veloped protozoa,  produce  on  their  unicellular  body 
two  little  organs  of  the  simplest  character — an  organ 
of  touch  and  an  organ  of  movement.     Both  these  in- 


THE  RIDDLE   OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

struments  are  direct  external  projections  of  protoplasm ; 
the  stimulus,  which  alights  on  the  first,  is  immediately 
conducted  to  the  other  by  the  psychoplasm  of  the  uni- 
cellular body,  and  causes  it  to  contract.  This  phenom- 
enon is  particularly  easy  to  observe,  and  even  produce 
experimentally,  in  many  of  the  stationary  infusoria 
(for  instance,  the  poteriodendron  among  the  flagellata, 
and  the  vorticella  among  the  ciliata).  The  faintest 
stimulus  that  touches  the  extremely  sensitive  hairs, 
or  cilia,  at  the  free  end  of  the  cells,  immediately  causes 
a  contraction  of  a  thread-like  stalk  at  the  other,  fixed 
end.  This  phenomenon  is  known  as  a  "  simple  reflex 
arch." 

IV.  These  phenomena  of  the  unicellular  organism 
of  the  infusoria  lead  on  to  the  interesting  mechanism 
of  the  neuro-muscular  cells,  which  we  find  in  the  multi- 
cellular  body  of  many  of  the  lower  metazoa,  especially 
in  the  cnidaria  (polyps  and  corals) .     Each  single  neuro- 
muscular  cell  is  a  "  unicellular  reflex  organ  " ;  it  has 
on  its  surface  a  sensitive  spot,  and  a  motor  muscular 
fibre  inside  at  the  opposite  end;  the  latter  contracts 
as  soon  as  the  former  is  stimulated. 

V.  In  other  cnidaria,  notably  in  the  free  swimming 
medusae — which  are  closely  related  to  the  stationary 
polyps — the  simple  neuro-muscular  cell  becomes  two 
different  cells,  connected  by  a  filament;  an  external 
sense-cell  (in  the  outer  skin)  and  an  internal  muscular 
cell  (under  the  skin).     In  this  bicellular  reflex  organ  the 
one  cell  is  the  rudimentary  organ  of  sensation,  the  other 
of  movement;  the  connecting  bridge  of  the  psycho- 
plasmic   filament  conducts  the  stimulus  from  one  to 
the  other. 

VI.  The  most  important  step  in  the  gradual  con- 
struction of  the  reflex  mechanism  is  the  division  into 


PSYCHIC    GRADATIONS 

three  cells ;  in  the  place  of  the  simple  connecting  bridge 
we  spoke  of  there  appears  a  third  independent  cell,  the 
soul-cell,  or  ganglionic  cell ;  with  it  appears  also  a  new 
psychic  function,  unconscious  presentation,  which  has 
its  seat  in  this  cell.  The  stimulus  is  first  conducted 
from  the  sensitive  cell  to  this  intermediate  presentative 
or  psychic  cell,  and  then  issued  from  this  to  the  motor 
muscular  cell  as  a  mandate  of  movement.  These  tri- 
cellular  reflex  organs  are  preponderantly  developed  in 
the  great  majority  of  the  invertebrates. 

VII.  Instead  of  this  arrangement  we  find  in  most 
of  the  vertebrates  a  quadricellular  reflex  organ,  two  dis- 
tinct "  soul-cells,"  instead  of  one,  being  inserted  be- 
tween the  sensitive  cell  and  the  motor  cell.  The  ex- 
ternal stimulus,  in  this  case,  is  first  conducted  centrip- 
etally  to  the  sensitive  cell  (the  sensible  psychic  cell), 
from  this  to  the  will-cell  (the  motor  psychic  cell),  and 
from  this,  finally,  to  the  contractile  muscular  cell.  When 
many  such  reflex  organs  combine  and  new  psychic 
cells  are  interposed  we  have  the  intricate  reflex  mechan- 
ism of  man  and  the  higher  vertebrates. 

The  important  distinction  which  we  make,  in  mor- 
phology and  physiology,  between  unicellular  and  multi- 
cellular  organisms  holds  good  for  their  elementary 
psychic  activity,  reflex  action.  In  the  unicellular 
protists  (both  the  plasmodomous  primitive  plants,  or 
protophyta,  and  the  plasmophagous  primitive  animals, 
or  protozoa)  the  whole  physical  process  of  reflex  action 
takes  place  in  the  protoplasm  of  one  single  cell ;  their 
"  cell-soul "  seems  to  be  a  unifying  function  of  the  psy- 
choplasm  of  which  the  various  phases  only  begin  to 
be  seen  separately  when  the  differentiation  of  special 
organs  sets  in. 

The  second  stage  of  psychic  activity,  compound  re- 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

flex  action,  begins  with  the  cenobitic  protists  (v.g.,  the 
volvox  and  the  carchesium).  The  innumerable  so- 
cial cells,  which  make  up  this  cell-community  or  coeno- 
bium,  are  always  more  or  less  connected,  often  directly 
connected  by  filamentous  bridges  of  protoplasm.  A 
stimulus  that  alights  on  one  or  more  cells  of  the  com- 
munity is  communicated  to  the  rest  by  means  of  the 
connecting  fibres,  and  may  produce  a  general  con- 
traction. This  connection  is  found,  also,  in  the  tissues 
of  the  multicellular  animals  and  plants.  It  was  er- 
roneously believed  at  one  time  that  the  cells  of  vegetal 
tissue  were  completely  isolated  from  each  other,  but 
we  have  now  discovered  fine  filaments  of  protoplasm 
throughout,  which  penetrate  the  thick  membranes  of 
the  cells,  and  maintain  a  material  and  psychological 
communication  between  their  living  plasmic  contents. 
That  is  the  explanation  of  the  mimosa:  when  the 
tread  of  the  passer-by  shakes  the  root  of  the  plant,  the 
stimulus  is  immediately  conveyed  to  all  the  cells,  and 
causes  a  general  contraction  of  its  tender  leaves  and  a 
drooping  of  the  stems. 

An  important  and  universal  feature  of  all  reflex  phe- 
nomena is  the  absence  of  consciousness.  For  reasons 
which  we  shall  give  in  the  tenth  chapter  we  only  ad- 
mit the  presence  of  consciousness  in  man  and  the 
higher  animals,  not  in  plants,  the  lower  animals,  and 
the  protists;  consequently  all  stimulated  movements 
in  the  latter  must  be  regarded  as  reflex  —  that  is,  all 
movements  which  are  not  spontaneous,  not  the  out- 
come of  internal  causes  (impulsive  and  automatic 
movements).*  It  is  different  with  the  higher  animals 
which  have  developed  a  centralized  nervous  system  and 

*  Cf .  Max  Verworn,  Psychophysiologische  Protisten-Studien,  pp. 

135, 140- 

116 


PSYCHIC    GRADATIONS 

elaborate  sense-organs.  In  these  cases  consciousness 
has  been  gradually  evolved  from  the  psychic  reflex  ac- 
tivity, and  now  conscious,  voluntary  action  appears,  in 
opposition  to  the  still  continuing  reflex  action  below. 
However,  we  must  distinguish  two  different  processes, 
as  we  did  in  the  question  of  instinct — primary  and  sec- 
ondary reflex  action.  Primary  reflex  actions  are  those 
which  have  never  reached  the  stage  of  consciousness  in 
phyletic  development,  and  thus  preserve  the  primitive 
character  (by  heredity  from  lower  animal  forms).  Sec- 
ondary reflex  actions  are  those  which  were  conscious, 
voluntary  actions  in  our  ancestors,  but  which  afterwards 
became  unconscious  from  habit  or  the  lapse  of  conscious- 
ness. It  is  impossible  to  draw  a  hard  and  fast  line  in 
such  cases  between  conscious  and  unconscious  psychic 
function. 

Older  psychologists  (Herbart,  for  instance)  consid- 
ered "  presentation  "  to  be  the  fundamental  psychic  phe- 
nomenon, from  which  all  the  others  are  derived.  Mod- 
ern comparative  psychology  endorses  this  view  in  so 
far  as  it  relates  to  the  idea  of  unconscious  presentation  ; 
but  it  considers  conscious  presentation  to  be  a  secondary 
phenomenon  of  mental  life,  which  is  entirely  wanting 
in  plants  and  the  lower  animals,  and  is  only  developed 
in  the  higher  animals.  Among  the  many  contradictory 
definitions  which  psychologists  have  given  of  "  presen- 
tation/' we  think  the  best  is  that  which  makes  it  consist 
in  an  internal  picture  of  the  external  object  which  is 
given  us  in  sensation — an  "  idea/'  in  the  broader  sense. 
We  may  distinguish  the  following  four  stages  in  the 
rising  scale  of  presentative  function : 

I.  Cellular  presentation. — At  the  lowest  stages  we 
find  presentation  to  be  a  general  physiological  property 
of  psychoplasm ;  even  in  the  simplest  unicellular  protist 

117 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

sensations  may  leave  a  permanent  trace  in  the  psycho- 
plasm,  and  these  may  be  reproduced  by  memory.  In 
more  than  four  thousand  kinds  of  radiolaria,  which  I 
have  described,  every  single  species  is  distinguished  by 
special,  hereditary  skeletal  structure.  The  construc- 
tion of  this  specific,  and  often  highly  elaborate,  skeleton 
by  a  cell  of  the  simplest  description  (generally  globular) 
is  only  intelligible  when  we  attribute  the  faculty  of  pres- 
entation, and,  indeed,  of  a  special  reproduction  of  the 
plastic  "  feeling  of  distance,"  to  the  constructive  proto- 
plasm— as  I  have  pointed  out  in  my  Psychology  of  the 
Radiolaria* 

II.  Histionic  presentation. — In  the  ccenobia  or  cell- 
colonies  of  the  social  protists,  and  still  better  in  the 
tissues  of  plants  and  lower,  nerveless  animals  (sponges, 
polyps,  etc.),  we  find  the  second  stage  of  unconscious 
presentation,  which  consists  of  the  common  psychic  ac- 
tivity of  a  number  of  closely  connected  cells.     If  a  single 
stimulus  may,  instead  of  simply  spending  itself  in  the 
reflex  movement  of  an  organ  (the  leaf  of  a  plant,  for  in- 
stance, or  the  arm  of  a  polyp),  leave  a  permanent  im- 
pression, which  can  be  spontaneously  reproduced  later 
on,  we  are  bound  to  assume,  in  explaining  the  phenom- 
enon, a  histionic  presentation,  dependent  on  the  psycho- 
plasm  of  the  associated  tissue-cells. 

III.  Unconscious  presentation  in  the  ganglionic  cells. 
— This  third  and  higher  stage  of  presentation  is  the 
commonest  form  the  function  takes  in  the  animal  world ; 
it  seems  to  be  a  localization  of  presentation  in  definite 
"  soul-cells. "    In  its  simplest  form  it  appears  at  the  sixth 
stage  of  reflex  action,  when  the  tricellular  reflex  organ 
arises :  the  seat  of  presentation  is  then  the  intermediate 

*E.  Haeckel,  *  General  Natural  History  of  the  Radiolaria "; 
1887. 

118 


PSYCHIC    GRADATIONS 

psychic  cell,  which  is  interposed  between  the  sensitive 
cell  and  the  muscular  cell.  With  the  increasing  devel- 
opment of  the  animal  nervous  system  and  its  progres- 
sive differentiation  and  integration,  this  unconscious 
presentation  also  rises  to  higher  stages. 

IV.  Conscious  presentation  in  the  cerebral  cells.  — 
With  the  highest  stage  of  development  of  the  animal 
organization  consciousness  arises,  as  a  special  function 
of  a  certain  central  organ  of  the  nervous  system.  As 
the  presentations  are  conscious,  and  as  special  parts  of 
the  brain  arise  for  the  association  of  these  conscious 
presentations,  the  organism  is  qualified  for  those  highest 
psychic  functions  which  we  call  thought  and  reflection, 
intellect  and  reason.  Although  the  tracing  of  the  phy- 
letic  barrier  between  the  older,  unconscious,  and  the 
younger,  conscious,  presentation  is  extremely  difficult, 
we  can  affirm,  with  some  degree  of  probability,  that  the 
evolution  of  the  latter  from  the  former  was  polyphyletic ; 
because  we  find  conscious  and  rational  thought,  not 
only  in  the  highest  forms  of  the  vertebrate  stem  (man, 
mammals,  birds,  and  a  part  of  the  lower  vertebrates), 
but  also  in  the  most  highly  developed  representatives  of 
other  animal  groups  (ants  and  other  insects,  spiders  and 
the  higher  crabs  among  the  articulata,  cephalopods 
among  the  mollusca). 

The  evolutionary  scale  of  memory  is  closely  connected 
with  that  of  presentation;  this  extremely  important 
function  of  the  psychoplasm — the  condition  of  all  fur- 
ther psychic  development — consists  essentially  in  the 
reproduction  of  presentations.  The  impressions  in  the 
bioplasm,  which  the  stimulus  produced  as  sensations, 
and  which  became  presentations  in  remaining,  are  re- 
vived by  memory ;  they  pass  from  potentiality  to  actu- 
ality. The  latent  potential  energy  of  the  psychoplasm 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

is  transformed  into  kinetic  energy.  We  may  distin- 
guish four  stages  in  the  upward  development  of  mem- 
ory, corresponding  to  the  four  stages  of  presentation. 

I.  Cellular  memory. — Thirty  years  ago  Ewald  He- 
ring  showed  "  memory  to  be  a  general  property  of  organ- 
ized matter  "  in  a  thoughtful  work,  and  indicated  the 
great  significance  of  this  function,  "to  which  we  owe 
almost  all  that  we  are  and  have."  Six  years  later,  in 
my  work  on  The  Perigenesis  of  the  Plastidule,  or  the  Un- 
dulatory  Origin  of  the  Parts  of  Life  :  an  Experiment  in 
the  Mechanical  Explanation  of  Elementary  Evolutionary 
Processes,  I  developed  these  ideas,  and  endeavored  to 
base  them  on  the  principles  of  evolution.  I  have  at- 
tempted to  show  in  that  work  that  unconscious  mem- 
ory is  a  universal  and  very  important  function  of  all 
plastidules ;  that  is,  of  those  hypothetical  molecules,  or 
groups  of  molecules,  which  Naegeli  has  called  micellae, 
others  bioplasts,  and  so  forth.  Only  living  plastidules, 
as  individual  molecules  of  the  active  protoplasm,  are  re- 
productive, and  so  gifted  with  memory;  that  is  the 
chief  difference  between  the  organic  and  inorganic 
worlds.  It  might  be  stated  thus :  "  Heredity  is  the 
memory  of  the  plastidule,  while  variability  is  its  compre- 
hension." The  elementary  memory  of  the  unicellular 
protist  is  made  up  of  the  molecular  memory  of  the 
plastidules  or  micellae,  of  which  its  living  cell-body  is 
constructed.  As  regards  the  extraordinary  perform- 
ances of  unconscious  memory  in  these  unicellular  pro- 
tists,  nothing  could  be  more  instructive  than  the  infi- 
nitely varied  and  regular  formation  of  their  defensive 
apparatus,  their  shells  and  skeletons ;  in  particular, 
the  diatomes  and  cosmaria  among  the  protophytes,  and 
the  radiolaria  and  thalamophora  among  the  protozoa, 
afford  an  abundance  of  most  interesting  illustrations. 

120 


PSYCHIC    GRADATIONS 

In  many  thousand  species  of  these  protists  the  specific 
form  which  is  inherited  is  relatively  constant,  and  proves 
the  fidelity  of  their  unconscious  cellular  memory. 

II.  Histionic  memory. — Equally  interesting  exam- 
ples of  the  second  stage  of  memory,  the  unconscious 
memory  of  tissues,  are  found  in  the  heredity  of  the  in- 
dividual organs  of  plants  and  the  lower,  nerveless  ani- 
mals (sponges,  etc.).     This  second  stage  seems  to  be  a 
reproduction  of  the  histionic  presentations,  that  associa- 
tion of  cellular  presentations  which  sets  in  with  the 
formation  of  coenobia  in  the  social  protists. 

III.  In  the  same  way  we  must  regard  the  third  stage, 
the  unconscious  memory  of  those  animals  which  have 
a  nervous  system,  as  a  reproduction  of  the  correspond- 
ing *  unconscious  presentations  "  which  are  stored  up 
in  certain  ganglionic  cells.     In  most  of  the  lower  ani- 
mals all  memory  is  unconscious.     Moreover,  even  in 
man  and  the  higher  animals,  to  whom  we  must  ascribe 
consciousness,  the  daily  acts  of  unconscious  memory 
are  much  more  numerous  and  varied  than  those  of  the 
conscious  faculty;  we  shall  easily  convince  ourselves 
of  that  if  we  make  an  impartial  study  of  a  thousand 
unconscious  acts  we  perform  daily  out  of  habit,  and 
without  thinking  of  them,  in  walking,  speaking,  writ- 
ing, eating,  and  so  forth. 

IV.  Conscious  memory,  which  is  the  work  of  cer- 
tain brain-cells  in  man  and  the  higher  animals,  is  an 
"  internal  mirroring  "  of  very  late  development,  the 
highest  outcome  of  the  same  psychic  reproduction  of 
presentations  which  were  mere  unconscious  processes 
in  the  ganglionic  cells  of  our  lower  animal  ancestors. 

The  concatenation  of  presentations — usually  called 
the  association  of  ideas — also  runs  through  a  long 
scale,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  stages.  This, 

121 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

too,  is  originally  and  predominantly  unconscious  ("  in- 
stinct ") ;  only  in  the  higher  classes  of  animals  does  it 
gradually  become  conscious  ("  reason  ").  The  psychic 
results  of  this  " association  of  ideas"  are  extremely 
varied ;  still,  a  very  long,  unbroken  line  of  gradual  de- 
velopment connects  the  simplest  unconscious  associa- 
tion of  the  lowest  protist  with  the  elaborate  conscious 
chain  of  ideas  of  the  civilized  man.  The  unity  of  con- 
sciousness in  man  is  given  as  its  highest  consequence 
(Hume,  Condillac).  All  higher  mental  activity  be- 
comes more  perfect  in  proportion  as  the  normal  associa- 
tion extends  to  more  numerous  presentations,  and  in 
proportion  to  the  order  which  is  imposed  on  them  by 
the  "criticism  of  pure  reason."  In  dreams,  where  this 
criticism  is  absent,  the  association  of  the  reproduced 
impressions  often  takes  the  wildest  forms.  Even  in 
the  work  of  the  poetic  imagination,  which  constructs 
new  groups  of  images  by  varying  the  association  of 
the  impressions  received,  and  in  hallucinations,  etc., 
they  are  often  most  unnaturally  arranged,  and  seem 
to  the  prosaic  observer  to  be  perfectly  irrational.  This 
is  especially  true  of  supernatural  "  forms  of  belief,"  the 
apparitions  of  spiritism,  and  the  fantastic  notions  of 
the  transcendental  dualist  philosophy ;  though  it  is 
precisely  these  abnormal  associations  of  "  faith  "  and 
of  "  revelation  "  that  have  often  been  deemed  the  great- 
est treasures  of  the  human  mind  (cf.  chap.  xvi.). 

The  antiquated  psychology  of  the  Middle  Ages 
(which,  however,  still  numbers  many  adherents)  con- 
sidered the  mental  life  of  man  and  that  of  the  brute  to 
be  two  entirely  different  phenomena  ;  the  one  it  attrib- 
uted to  "  reason,"  the  other  to  "  instinct."  In  harmony 
with  the  traditional  story  of  creation,  it  was  assumed 
that  each  animal  species  had  received  a  definite,  un- 

122 


PSYCHIC   GRADATIONS 

conscious  psychic  force  from  the  Creator  at  its  forma- 
tion, and  that  this  instinct  of  each  species  was  just  as 
unchangeable  as  its  bodily  structure.  Lamarck  proved 
the  untenableness  of  this  error  in  1809  by  establishing 
the  theory  of  Descent,  and  Darwin  completely  demol- 
ished it  in  1859.  He  proved  the  following  important 
theses  with  the  aid  of  his  theory  of  selection : 

1.  The  instincts  of  species  show  individual  differ- 
ences, and  are  just  as  subject  to  modification  under  the 
law  of  adaptation  as  the  morphological  features  of  their 
bodily  structure. 

2.  These  modifications    (generally  arising  from  a 
change  of  habits)  are  partly  transmitted  to  offspring 
by  heredity,  and  thus  accumulate  and  are  accentuated 
in  the  course  of  generations. 

3.  Selection,  both  artificial  and  natural,  singles  out 
certain  of  these  inherited  modifications  of  the  psychic 
activity ;  it  preserves  the  most  useful  and  rejects  the 
least  adaptive. 

4  The  divergence  of  psychic  character  which  thus 
arises  leads,  in  the  course  of  generations,  to  the  forma- 
tion of  new  instincts,  just  as  the  divergence  of  morpho- 
logical character  gives  rise  to  new  species. 

Darwin  s  theory  of  instinct  is  now  accepted  by  most 
biologists;  Romanes  has  treated  it  so  ably,  and  so 
greatly  expanded  it  in  his  distinguished  work  on  Mental 
Evolution  in  the  Animal  World,  that  I  need  merely  re- 
fer to  it  here.  I  will  only  venture  the  brief  statement 
that,  in  my  opinion,  there  are  instincts  in  all  organisms 
—in  all  the  protists  and  plants  as  well  as  in  all  the  ani- 
mals and  in  man  ;  though  in  the  latter  they  tend  to  dis- 
appear in  proportion  as  reason  makes  progress  at  their 
expense. 

The  two  chief  classes  of  instincts  to  be  differentiated 
123 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

are  the  primary  and  secondary.  Primary  instincts  are 
the  common  lower  impulses  which  are  unconscious  and 
inherent  in  the  psychoplasm  from  the  commencement 
of  organic  life;  especially  the  impulses  to  self-preser- 
vation (by  defence  and  maintenance)  and  to  the  preser- 
vation of  the  species  (by  generation  and  the  care  of  the 
young).  Both  these  fundamental  instincts  of  organic 
life,  hunger  and  love,  sprang  up  originally  in  perfect 
unconsciousness,  without  any  co-operation  of  the  intel- 
lect or  reason.  It  is  otherwise  with  the  secondary  in- 
stincts. These  were  due  originally  to  an  intelligent 
adaptation,  to  rational  thought  and  resolution,  and  to 
purposive  conscious  action.  Gradually,  however,  they 
became  so  automatic  that  this  "other  nature  *  acted 
unconsciously,  and,  even  through  the  action  of  hered- 
ity, seemed  to  be  *  innate  *  in  subsequent  generations. 
The  consciousness  and  deliberation  which  originally 
accompanied  these  particular  instincts  of  the  higher 
animals  and  man  have  died  away  in  the  course  of  the 
life  of  the  plastidules  (as  in  "  abridged  heredity  "). 
The  unconscious  purposive  actions  of  the  higher  ani- 
mals (for  instance,  their  mechanical  instincts)  thus 
come  to  appear  in  the  light  of  innate  impulses.  We 
have  to  explain  in  the  same  way  the  origin  of  the  "  h 
priori  ideas "  of  man ;  they  were  originally  formed 
empirically  by  his  predecessors.* 

In  the  superficial  psychological  treatises  which  ig- 
nore the  mental  activity  of  animals  and  attribute  to 
man  only  a  "  true  soul,"  we  find  him  credited  also  with 
the  exclusive  possession  of  reason  and  consciousness. 
This  is  another  trivial  error  (still  to  be  found  in  many 
a  manual,  nevertheless)  which  the  comparative  psy- 

*  Vide  Natural  History  of  Creation,  E.  Haeckel. 
124 


PSYCHIC    GRADATIONS 

chology  of  the  last  forty  years  has  entirely  dissipated. 
The  higher  vertebrates  (especially  those  mammals 
which  are  most  nearly  related  to  man)  have  just  as 
good  a  title  to  "reason"  as  man  himself,  and  within 
the  limits  of  the  animal  world  there  is  the  same  long 
chain  of  the  gradual  development  of  reason  as  in  the 
case  of  humanity.  The  difference  between  the  reason 
of  a  Goethe,  a  Kant,  a  Lamarck,  or  a  Darwin,  and  that 
of  the  lowest  savage,  a  Veddah,  an  Akka,  a  native 
Australian,  or  a  Patagonian,  is  much  greater  than  the 
graduated  difference  between  the  reason  of  the  latter 
and  that  of  the  most  "  rational"  mammals,  the  anthro- 
poid apes,  or  even  the  papiomorpha,  the  dog,  or  the 
elephant.  This  important  thesis  has  been  convinc- 
ingly proved  by  the  thoroughly  critical  comparative 
work  of  Romanes  and  others.  We  shall  not,  there- 
fore, attempt  to  cover  that  ground  here,  nor  to  enlarge 
on  the  distinction  between  the  reason  and  the  intel- 
lect; as  to  the  meaning  and  limits  of  these  concepts 
philosophic  experts  give  the  most  contradictory  defi- 
nitions, as  they  do  on  so  many  other  fundamental  ques- 
tions of  psychology.  In  general  it  may  be  said  that 
the  process  of  the  formation  of  concepts,  which  is  com- 
mon to  both  these  cerebral  functions,  is  confined  to  the 
narrower  circle  of  concrete,  proximate  associations  in 
the  intellect,  but  reaches  out  to  the  wider  circle  of  ab- 
stract, more  comprehensive  groups  of  associations  in 
the  work  of  reason.  In  the  long  gradation  which  con- 
nects the  reflex  actions  and  the  instincts  of  the  lower 
animals  with  the  reason  of  the  highest,  intellect  pre- 
cedes the  latter.  And  there  is  the  fact,  of  great  im- 
portance to  our  whole  psychological  treatise,  that  even 
these  highest  of  our  mental  faculties  are  just  as  much 
subject  to  the  laws  of  heredity  and  adaptation  as  are 
10  125 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

their  respective  organs;  Flechsig  pointed  out  in  1894 
that  the  "  organs  of  thought/'  in  man  and  the  higher 
mammals,  are  those  parts  of  the  cortex  of  the  brain 
which  lie  between  the  four  inner  sense-centres  (cf .  chap- 
ters x.  and  xi.). 

The  higher  grade  of  development  of  ideas,  of  intellect 
and  reason,  which  raises  man  so  much  above  the  brute, 
is  intimately  connected  with  the  rise  of  language.  Still 
here  also  we  have  to  recognize  a  long  chain  of  evolu- 
tion which  stretches  unbroken  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest  stages.  Speech  is  no  more  an  exclusive  pre- 
rogative of  man  than  reason.  In  the  wider  sense,  it  is 
a  common  feature  of  all  the  higher  gregarious  animals, 
at  least  of  all  the  articulata  and  the  vertebrates,  which 
live  in  communities  or  herds ;  they  need  it  for  the  pur- 
pose of  understanding  each  other  and  communicating 
their  impressions.  This  is  effected  either  by  touch 
or  by  signs,  or  by  sounds  having  a  definite  meaning. 
The  song  of  the  bird  or  of  the  anthropoid  ape  (hylo- 
bates),  the  bark  of  the  dog,  the  neigh  of  the  horse,  the 
chirp  of  the  cricket,  the  cry  of  the  cicada,  are  all  speci- 
mens of  animal  speech.  Only  in  man,  however,  has 
that  articulate  conceptual  speech  developed  which  has 
enabled  his  reason  to  attain  such  high  achievements. 
Comparative  philology,  one  of  the  most  interesting 
sciences  that  has  arisen  during  the  century,  has  shown 
that  the  numerous  elaborate  languages  of  the  different 
nations  have  been  slowly  and  gradually  evolved  from 
a  few  simple  primitive  tongues  (Wilhelm  Humboldt, 
Bopp,  Schleicher,  Steinthal,  and  others).  August 
Schleicher,  of  Jena,  in  particular,  has  proved  that  the 
historical  development  of  language  takes  place  under 
the  same  phylogenetic  laws  as  the  evolution  of  other 
physiological  faculties  and  their  organs.  Romanes 

126 


PSYCHIC    GRADATIONS 

(1893)  has  expanded  this  proof,  and  amply  demon- 
strated that  human  speech,  also,  differs  from  that  of 
the  brute  only  in  degree  of  development,  not  in  essence 
and  kind. 

The  important  group  of  psychic  activities  which  we 
embrace  under  the  name  of  "emotion"  plays  a  con- 
spicuous part  both  in  theoretical  and  practical  psychol- 
ogy. From  our  point  of  view  they  have  a  peculiar  im- 
portance from  the  fact  that  we  dearly  see  in  them  the 
direct  connection  of  cerebral  functions  with  other  phys- 
iological functions  (the  beat  of  the  heart,  sense  -  action, 
muscular  movement,  etc.) ;  they,  therefore,  prove  the 
unnatural  and  untenable  character  of  the  philosophy 
which  would  essentially  dissociate  psychology  from 
physiology.  All  the  external  expressions  of  emotional 
life  which  we  find  in  man  are  also  present  in  the  higher 
animals  (especially  in  the  anthropoid  ape  and  the 
dog) ;  however  varied  their  development  may  be,  they 
are  all  derived  from  the  two  elementary  functions  of 
the  psyche,  sensation  and  motion,  and  from  their  com- 
bination in  reflex  action  and  presentation.  To  the 
province  of  sensation,  in  a  wide  sense,  we  must  attrib- 
ute the  feeling  of  like  and  dislike  which  determines  the 
emotion ;  while  the  corresponding  desire  and  aversion 
(love  and  hatred),  the  effort  to  attain  what  is  liked  and 
avoid  what  is  disliked,  belong  to  the  category  of  move- 
ment. "  Attraction  "  and  "  repulsion  "  seem  to  be  the 
sources  of  will,  that  momentous  element  of  the  soul 
which  determines  the  character  of  the  individual.  The 
passions,  which  play  so  important  a  part  in  the  psychic 
life  of  man,  are  but  intensifications  of  emotion.  Ro- 
manes has  recently  shown  that  these  also  are  common 
to  man  and  the  brute.  Even  at  the  lowest  stage  of  or- 
ganic life  we  find  in  all  the  protists  those  elementary 

127 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

feelings  of  like  and  dislike,  revealing  themselves  in 
what  are  called  their  tropisms,  in  the  striving  after  light 
and  darkness,  heat  or  cold,  and  in  their  different  rela- 
tions to  positive  and  negative  electricity.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  find  at  the  highest  stage  of  psychic  life,  in 
civilized  man,  those  finer  shades  of  emotion,  of  delight 
and  disgust,  of  love  and  hatred,  which  are  the  main- 
springs of  civilization  and  the  inexhaustible  sources 
of  poetry.  Yet  a  connecting  chain  of  all  conceivable 
gradations  unites  the  most  primitive  elements  of  feel- 
ing in  the  psychoplasm  of  the  unicellular  protist  with 
the  highest  forms  of  passion  that  rule  in  the  ganglionic 
cells  of  the  cortex  of  the  human  brain.  That  the  latter 
are  absolutely  amenable  to  physical  laws  was  proved 
long  ago  by  the  great  Spinoza  in  his  famous  Statics 
of  Emotion. 

The  notion  of  will  has  as  many  different  meanings 
and  definitions  as  most  other  psychological  notions — 
presentation,  soul,  mind,  and  so  forth.  Sometimes  will 
is  taken  in  the  widest  sense  as  a  cosmic  attribute,  as 
in  the  "  World  as  will  and  presentation "  of  Schopen- 
hauer; sometimes  it  is  taken  in  its  narrowest  sense  as 
an  anthropological  attribute,  the  exclusive  prerogative 
of  man — as  Descartes  taught,  for  instance,  who  consid- 
ered the  brute  to  be  a  mere  machine,  without  will  or  sen- 
sation. In  the  ordinary  use  of  the  term,  will  is  derived 
from  the  phenomenon  of  voluntary  movement,  and  is 
thus  regarded  as  a  psychic  attribute  of  most  animals. 
But  when  we  examine  the  will  in  the  light  of  compara- 
tive physiology  and  evolution,  we  find — as  we  do  in  the 
case  of  sensation — that  it  is  a  universal  property  of  liv- 
ing psychoplasm.  The  automatic  and  the  reflex  move- 
ments which  we  observe  everywhere,  even  in  the  uni- 
cellular protists,  seem  to  be  the  outcome  of  inclinations 

128 


PSYCHIC   GRADATIONS 

which  are  inseparably  connected  with  the  very  idea  of 
life.  Even  in  the  plants  and  lowest  animals  these  in- 
clinations, or  tropisms,  seem  to  be  the  joint  outcome  of 
the  inclinations  of  all  the  combined  individual  cells. 

But  when  the  "  tricellular  reflex  organ  "  arises  (page 
115),  and  a  third  independent  cell — the  "  psychic/'  or 
"  ganglionic,"  cell — is  interposed  between  the  sense-cell 
and  the  motor  cell,  we  have  an  independent  elementary 
organ  of  will.  In  the  lower  animals,  however,  this  will 
remains  unconscious.  It  is  only  when  consciousness 
arises  in  the  higher  animals,  as  the  subjective  mirror 
of  the  objective,  though  internal,  processes  in  the  neuro- 
plasm  of  the  psychic  cells,  that  the  will  reaches  that 
highest  stage  which  likens  it  in  character  to  the  human 
will,  and  which,  in  the  case  of  man,  assumes  in  com- 
mon parlance  the  predicate  of  "  liberty. "  Its  free  do- 
minion and  action  become  more  and  more  deceptive 
as  the  muscular  system  and  the  sense-organs  develop 
with  a  free  and  rapid  locomotion,  entailing  a  correlative 
evolution  of  the  brain  and  the  organs  of  thought. 

The  question  of  the  liberty  of  the  will  is  the  one  which 
has  more  than  any  other  cosmic  problem  occupied  the 
time  of  thoughtful  humanity,  the  more  so  that  in  this 
case  the  great  philosophic  interest  of  the  question  was 
enhanced  by  the  association  of  most  momentous  con- 
sequences for  practical  philosophy — for  ethics,  educa- 
tion, law,  and  so  forth.  Emil  du  Bois-Reymond,  who 
treats  it  as  the  seventh  and  last  of  his  "  seven  cosmic 
problems,"  rightly  says  of  the  question :  "  Affecting 
everybody,  apparently  accessible  to  everybody,  inti- 
mately involved  in  the  fundamental  conditions  of  hu- 
man society,  vitally  connected  with  religious  belief,  this 
question  has  been  of  immeasurable  importance  in  the 
history  of  civilization.  There  is  probably  no  other  ob- 

129 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

ject  of  thought  on  which  the  modern  library  contains  so 
many  dusty  folios  that  will  never  again  be  opened." 
The  importance  of  the  question  is  also  seen  in  the  fact 
that  Kant  put  it  in  the  same  category  with  the  questions 
of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  belief  in  God.  He 
called  these  three  great  questions  the  indispensable 
"  postulates  of  practical  reason/'  though  he  had  already 
clearly  shown  them  to  have  no  reality  whatever  in  the 
light  of  pure  reason. 

The  most  remarkable  fact  in  connection  with  this 
fierce  and  confused  struggle  over  the  freedom  of  the 
will  is,  perhaps,  that  it  has  been  theoretically  rejected, 
not  only  by  the  greatest  critical  philosophers,  but  even 
by  their  extreme  opponents,  and  yet  it  is  still  affirmed 
to  be  self-evident  by  the  majority  of  people.  Some  of 
the  first  teachers  of  the  Christian  Churches — such  as 
St.  Augustine  and  Calvin — rejected  the  freedom  of  the 
will  as  decisively  as  the  famous  leaders  of  pure  ma- 
terialism, Holbach  in  the  eighteenth  and  Buchner  in 
the  nineteenth  century.  Christian  theologians  deny  it, 
because  it  is  irreconcilable  with  their  belief  in  the  om- 
nipotence of  God  and  in  predestination.  God,  omnip- 
otent and  omniscient,  saw  and  willed  all  things  from 
eternity — he  must,  consequently,  have  predetermined 
the  conduct  of  man.  If  man,  with  his  free  will,  were 
to  act  otherwise  than  God  had  ordained,  God  would  not 
be  all-mighty  and  all-knowing.  In  the  same  sense 
Leibnitz,  too,  was  an  unconditional  determinist.  The 
monistic  scientists  of  the  last  century,  especially  La- 
place, defended  determinism  as  a  consequence  of  their 
mechanical  view  of  life. 

The  great  struggle  between  the  determinist  and  the 
indeterminist,  between  the  opponent  and  the  sustainer 
of  the  freedom  of  the  will,  has  ended  to-day,  after  more 

130 


PSYCHIC    GRADATIONS 

than  two  thousand  years,  completely  in  favor  of  the 
determinist.  The  human  will  has  no  more  freedom 
than  that  of  the  higher  animals,  from  which  it  differs 
only  in  degree,  not  in  kind.  In  the  last  century  the 
dogma  of  liberty  was  fought  with  general  philosophic 
and  cosmological  arguments.  The  nineteenth  century 
has  given  us  very  different  weapons  for  its  definitive 
destruction — the  powerful  weapons  which  we  find  in 
the  arsenal  of  comparative  physiology  and  evolution. 
We  now  know  that  each  act  of  the  will  is  as  fatally 
determined  by  the  organization  of  the  individual  and 
as  dependent  on  the  momentary  condition  of  his  envi- 
ronment as  every  other  psychic  activity.  The  charac- 
ter of  the  inclination  was  determined  long  ago  by 
heredity  from  parents  and  ancestors ;  the  determina- 
tion to  each  particular  act  is  an  instance  of  adaptation 
to  the  circumstances  of  the  moment  wherein  the 
strongest  motive  prevails,  according  to  the  laws  which 
govern  the  statics  of  emotion.  Ontogeny  teaches  us 
to  understand  the  evolution  of  the  will  in  the  individu- 
al child.  Phylogeny  reveals  to  us  the  historical  de- 
velopment of  the  will  within  the  ranks  of  our  verte- 
brate ancestors. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  EMBRYOLOGY  OF  THE  SOUL 

Importance  of  Ontogeny  to  Psychology — Development  of  the  Child- 
Soul — Commencement  of  Existence  of  the  Individual  Soul — 
The  Storing  of  the  Soul — Mythology  of  the  Origin  of  the  Soul 
— Physiology  of  the  Origin  of  the  Soul — Elementary  Processes 
in  Conception — Coalescence  of  the  Ovum  and  the  Spermato- 
zoon— Cell-Love — Heredity  of  the  Soul  from  Parents  and  An- 
cestors— Its  Physiological  Nature  as  the  Mechanics  of  the 
Protoplasm — Blending  of  Souls  (Psychic  Amphigony) — Re- 
version, Psychological  Atavism — The  Biogenetic  Law  in  Psy- 
chology— Palingenetic  Repetition  and  Cenogenetic  Modifica- 
tion— Embryonic  and  Post-Embryonic  Psychogeny. 

THE  human  soul  —  whatever  we  may  hold  as  to 
its  nature — undergoes  a  continual  development 
throughout  the  life  of  the  individual.  This  ontogenetic 
fact  is  of  fundamental  importance  in  our  monistic  psy- 
chology, though  the  " professional"  psychologists  pay 
little  or  no  attention  to  it.  Since  the  embryology  of  the 
individual  is,  on  Baer's  principle — and  in  accordance 
with  the  universal  belief  of  modern  biologists — the 
"true  torch-bearer  for  all  research  into  the  organic 
body/'  it  will  afford  us  a  reliable  light  on  the  momen- 
tous problems  of  its  psychic  activity. 

Although,  however,  this  "  embryology  of  the  soul "  is 
so  important  and  interesting,  it  has  hitherto  met  with 
the  consideration  it  deserves  only  within  a  very  narrow 
circle.  Until  recently  teachers  were  almost  the  only 

132 


THE    EMBRYOLOGY    OF   THE   SOUL 

ones  to  occupy  themselves  with  a  part  of  the  problem ; 
since  their  avocation  compelled  them  to  assist  and  su- 
pervise the  formation  of  the  psychic  activity  in  the  child, 
they  were  bound  to  take  a  theoretical  interest,  also,  in 
the  psychogenetic  facts  that  came  under  their  notice. 
However,  these  teachers,  for  the  most  part,  both  in  re- 
cent and  in  earlier  times,  were  dominated  by  the  cur- 
rent dualistic  psychology — in  so  far  as  they  reflected  at 
all;  and  they  were  totally  ignorant  of  the  important 
facts  of  comparative  psychology,  and  unacquainted 
with  the  structure  and  function  of  the  brain.  More- 
over, their  observations  only  extended  to  children  in 
their  school-days,  or  in  the  years  immediately  preced- 
ing. The  remarkable  phenomena  which  the  individ- 
ual psychogeny  of  the  child  offers  in  its  earliest  years, 
and  which  are  the  joy  and  admiration  of  all  thoughtful 
parents,  were  scarcely  ever  made  the  subject  of  serious 
scientific  research.  Wilhelm  Preyer  was  the  pioneer 
of  this  study  in  his  interesting  work  on  The  Mind  of  the 
Child  (1881).  To  obtain  a  perfectly  clear  knowledge  of 
the  matter,  however,  we  must  go  further  back  still; 
we  must  commence  at  the  first  appearance  of  the  soul 
in  the  impregnated  ovum. 

The  origin  of  the  human  individual — body  and  soul 
—was  still  wrapped  in  complete  mystery  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  nineteenth  century.  Caspar  Friedrich  Wolff 
had,  it  is  true,  discovered  the  true  character  of  embry- 
onic development  in  1759,  in  his  theoria  generationis, 
and  proved  with  the  confidence  of  a  critical  observer 
that  there  is  a  true  epigenesis — i.e.,  a  series  of  very  re- 
markable formative  processes — in  the  evolution  of  the 
foetus  from  the  simple  ovum.  But  the  physiologists  of 
the  time,  with  the  famous  Albert  Haller  at  their  head, 
flatly  refused  to  entertain  these  empirical  truths,  which 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

may  be  directly  proved  by  microscopic  observation,  and 
clung  to  the  old  dogma  of  "  pref  ormation. "  This  theory 
assumed  that  in  the  human  ovum — and  in  the  egg  of 
all  other  animals — the  organism  was  already  present, 
or  "  preformed,"  in  all  its  parts ;  the  "  evolution  "  of 
the  embryo  consisted  literally  in  an  "  unfolding  "  (evo- 
lutio)  of  the  folded  organs.  One  curious  consequence 
of  this  error  was  the  theory  of  scatulation,  which  we 
have  mentioned  on  p.  55 ;  since  the  ovary  had  to  be 
admitted  to  be  present  in  the  embryo  of  the  woman,  it 
was  also  necessary  to  suppose  that  the  germs  of  the  next 
generation  were  already  formed  in  it,  and  so  on  in  in- 
finitum.  Opposed  to  this  dogma  of  the  "  Ovulists  " 
was  the  equally  erroneous  notion  of  the  "Animalcu- 
lists";  the  latter  held  that  the  germ  was  not  really  in 
the  female  ovum,  but  in  the  paternal  element,  and  that 
the  store  of  succeeding  generations  was  to  be  sought  in 
the  spermatozoa. 

Leibnitz  consistently  applied  this  theory  of  scatula- 
tion to  the  human  soul ;  he  denied  that  either  soul  or 
body  had  a  real  development  (epigenesis) ,  and  said  in 
his  Theodicy  :  "  Thus  I  consider  that  the  souls  which 
are  destined  one  day  to  become  human  exist  in  the 
seed,  like  those  of  other  species ;  that  they  have  existed 
in  our  ancestors  as  far  back  as  Adam — that  is,  since  the 
beginning  of  the  world — in  the  forms  of  organized  bod- 
ies." Similar  notions  prevailed  in  biology  and  philos- 
ophy until  the  third  decade  of  the  present  century,  when 
the  reform  of  embryology  by  Baer  gave  them  their 
death  blow.  In  the  province  of  psychology,  however, 
they  still  find  many  adherents ;  they  form  one  group  of 
the  many  curious  mystical  ideas  which  give  us  a  living 
illustration  of  the  ontogeny  of  the  soul. 

The  more  accurate  knowledge  which  we  have  recent- 
J34 


THE   EMBRYOLOGY    OF   THE   SOUL 

ly  obtained,  through  comparative  ethnology,  of  the  va- 
rious forms  of  myths  of  ancient  and  modern  uncivilized 
races,  is  also  of  great  interest  in  psychogeny.  Still,  it 
would  take  us  too  far  from  our  purpose  if  we  were  to 
enter  into  it  with  any  fulness  here ;  we  must  refer  the 
reader  to  Adalbert  Svoboda's  excellent  work  on  Forms 
of  Faith  (1897).  In  respect  of  their  scientific  and  poet- 
ical contents,  we  may  arrange  all  pertinent  psychoge- 
netic  myths  in  the  following  five  groups : 

I.  The  myth  of  transmigration. — The  soul  lived  for- 
merly in  the  body  of  another  animal,  and  passed  from 
this  into  a  human  body.     The  Egyptian  priests,  for  in- 
stance, taught  that  the  human  soul  wandered  through 
all  the  species  of  animals  after  the  death  of  the  body, 
returning  to  a  human  frame  after  three  thousand  years 
of  transmigration. 

II.  The  myth  of  the  in-planting  of  the  soul. — The 
soul  existed  independently  in  another  place — a  psycho- 
genetic  store,  as  it  were  (in  a  kind  of  embryonic  slumber 
or  latent  life) ;  it  was  taken  out  by  a  bird  (sometimes 
represented  as  an  eagle,  generally  as  a  white  stork), 
and  implanted  in  the  human  body. 

III.  The  myth  of  the  creation  of  the  soul. — God  cre- 
ates the  souls,  and  keeps  them  stored — sometimes  in  a 
pond  (living  in  the  form  of  plankton),  according  to  other 
myths  in  a  tree  (where  they  are  conceived  as  the  fruit 

,  of  a  phanerogam) ;  the  Creator  takes  them  from  the 
pond  or  tree,  and  inserts  them  in  the  human  germ  dur- 
ing the  act  of  conception. 

IV.  The  myth  of  the  scatulation  of  the  soul  (the  the- 
ory of  Leibnitz  which  we  have  given  above). 

V.  The  myth  of  the  division  of  the  soul  (the  theory 
of  Rudolph  Wagner  [1855]  and  of  other  physiologists). 
— In  the  act  of  procreation  a  portion  is  detached  from 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

both  the  (immaterial)  souls  of  the  parents;  the  ma- 
ternal contribution  passes  in  the  ovum,  the  paternal 
in  the  spermatozoa;  when  these  two  germinal  cells 
coalesce,  the  two  psychic  fragments  that  accompany 
them  also  combine  to  form  a  new  (immaterial)  soul. 

Although  the  poetic  fancies  we  have  mentioned  as 
to  the  origin  of  the  individual  human  soul  are  still  wide- 
ly accepted,  their  purely  mythological  character  is  now 
firmly  established.  The  deeply  interesting  and  re- 
markable research  which  has  been  made  in  the  course 
of  the  last  twenty-five  years  into  the  more  minute  proc- 
esses of  the  impregnation  and  germination  of  the  ovum 
has  made  it  clear  that  these  mysterious  phenomena 
belong  entirely  to  the  province  of  cellular  physiology 
(cf.  p.  48).  Both  the  female  element,  the  ovum,  and 
the  male  fertilizing  body,  the  sperma  or  spermatozoa, 
are  simple  cells.  These  living  cells  possess  a  certain 
sum  of  physiological  properties  to  which  we  give  the 
title  of  the  "  cell-soul,"  just  as  we  do  in  the  permanently 
unicellular  protist  (see  p.  48).  Both  germinal  cells 
have  the  faculty  of  movement  and  sensation.  The 
young  ovum,  or  egg-cell,  moves  after  the  manner  of  an 
amoeba;  the  minute  spermatozoa,  of  which  there  are 
millions  in  every  drop  of  the  seminal  fluid,  are  ciliated 
cells,  and  swim  about  as  freely  in  the  sperm,  by  means 
of  their  lashes  or  cilia,  as  the  ordinary  ciliated  infuso- 
ria (the  flagellata). 

When  the  two  cells  meet  as  a  result  of  copulation, 
or  when  they  are  brought  into  contact  through  arti- 
ficial fertilization  (in  the  fishes,  for  instance),  they  at- 
tract  each  other  and  become  firmly  attached.  The 
main  cause  of  this  cellular  attraction  is  a  chemical  sen- 
sitive action  of  the  protoplasm,  allied  to  smell  or  taste, 
which  we  call  "  erotic  chemicotropism " ;  it  may  also 

136 


THE   EMBRYOLOGY   OF   THE   SOUL 

be  correctly  (both  in  the  chemical  and  the  romantic 
sense)  termed  "  cellular  affinity  "  or  "  sexual  cell-love." 
A  number  of  the  ciliated  cells  in  the  sperm  swim  rap- 
idly towards  the  stationary  egg-cell  and  seek  to  pene- 
trate into  it.  As  Hertwig  showed  in  1 875,  as  a  rule  only 
one  of  the  suitors  is  fortunate  enough  to  reach  the  de- 
sired goal.  As  soon  as  this  favored  spermatozoon  has 
pierced  into  the  body  of  the  ovum  with  its  head  (the 
nucleus  of  the  cell),  a  thin  mucous  layer  is  detached 
from  the  ovum  which  prevents  the  further  entrance  of 
spermatozoa.  The  formation  of  this  protective  mem- 
brane was  only  prevented  when  Hertwig  kept  the  ovum 
stiff  with  cold  by  lowering  the  temperature,  or  benumbed 
it  with  narcotics  (chloroform,  morphia,  nicotine,  etc.) ; 
then  there  was  "  super-impregnation  "  or  "  poly-spermy  " 
— a  number  of  sperm-threads  pierced  into  the  body  of 
the  unconscious  ovum.  This  remarkable  fact  proved 
that  there  is  a  low  degree  of  "cellular  instinct"  (or,  at 
least,  of  specific,  lively  sensation)  in  the  sexual  cells 
just  as  effectively  as  do  the  important  phenomena  that 
immediately  follow  in  their  interior.  Both  nuclei — 
that  of  the  ovum  and  of  the  spermatozoon — attract  each 
other,  approach,  and,  on  contact,  completely  fuse  to- 
gether. Thus  from  the  impregnated  ovum  arises  the 
important  new  cell  which  we  call  the  "  stem-cell "  (cy- 
tula],  from  the  repeated  segmentation  of  which  the 
whole  polycellular  organism  is  evolved. 

The  psychological  information  which  is  afforded  by 
these  remarkable  facts  of  impregnation,  which  have 
only  been  properly  observed  during  the  last  twenty- 
five  years,  is  supremely  important;  its  vast  signifi- 
cance has  hitherto  been  very  far  from  appreciated.  We 
shall  condense  the  main  conclusions  of  research  in  the 
following  five  theses: 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

I.  Each  human  individual,  like  every  other  higher 
animal,  is  a  single  simple  cell  at  the  commencement 
of  his  existence. 

II.  This  "stem-cell"  (cytula)  is  formed  in  the  same 
manner  in  all  cases — that  is,  by  the  blending  or  copu- 
lation of  two  separate  cells  of  diverse  origin,  the  female 
ovum  and  the  male  spermatozoon. 

III.  Each  of  these  sexual  cells  has   its  own  "  cell- 
soul" — that  is,  each  is   distinguished    by  a  peculiar 
form  of  sensation  and  movement. 

IV.  At  the  moment  of  conception  or  impregnation, 
not  only  the  protoplasm  and  the  nuclei  of  the  two  sex- 
ual cells  coalesce,  but  also  their  "cell-souls";  in  other 
words,  the  potential  energies  which  are  latent  in  both, 
and  inseparable  from  the  matter  of  the  protoplasm, 
unite  for  the  formation  of  a  new  potential  energy,  the 
"  germ-soul "  of  the  newly  constructed  stem-cell. 

V.  Consequently  each  personality  owes  his  bodily 
and  spiritual  qualities  to  both  parents;  by  heredity 
the  nucleus  of  the  ovum  contributes  a  portion  of  the 
maternal  features,  while  the  nucleus  of  the  sperma- 
tozoon brings  a  part  of  the  father's  characteristics. 

By  these  empirical  facts  of  conception,  moreover, 
the  further  fact  of  extreme  importance  is  established, 
that  every  man,  like  every  other  animal,  has  a  begin- 
ning of  existence  ;  the  complete  copulation  of  the  two 
sexual  cell-nuclei  marks  the  precise  moment  when  not 
only  the  body,  but  also  the  "  soul,"  of  the  new  stem- 
cell  makes  its  appearance.  This  fact  suffices  of  itself 
to  destroy  the  myth  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  to 
which  we  shall  return  later  on.  It  suffices,  too,  for 
the  destruction  of  the  still  prevalent  superstition  that 
man  owes  his  personal  existence  to  the  favor  of  God. 
Its  origin  is  rather  to  be  attributed  solely  to  the  "  eros " 


THE    EMBRYOLOGY   OF   THE   SOUL 

of  his  parents,  to  that  powerful  impulse  that  is  common 
to  all  polycellular  animals  and  plants,  and  leads  to 
their  nuptial  union.  But  the  essential  point  in  this 
physiological  process  is  not  the  "  embrace/'  as  was 
formerly  supposed,  or  the  amorousness  connected  there- 
with ;  it  is  simply  the  introduction  of  the  spermatozoa 
into  the  vagina.  This  is  the  sole  means,  in  the  land- 
dwelling  animals,  by  which  the  fertilizing  element  can 
reach  the  released  ova  (which  usually  takes  place  in 
the  uterus  in  man).  In  the  case  of  the  lower  aquatic 
animals  (fishes,  mussels,  medusae,  etc.)  the  mature 
sexual  elements  on  both  sides  are  simply  discharged 
into  the  water,  and  their  union  is  let  to  chance;  they 
have  no  real  copulation,  and  so  they  show  none  of  those 
higher  psychic  "  erotic  "  functions  which  play  so  con- 
spicuous a  part  in  the  life  of  the  higher  animals.  Hence 
it  is,  also,  that  all  the  lower,  non  -  copulating  animals 
are  wanting  in  those  interesting  organs  which  Darwin 
has  called  "  secondary  sexual  characters,"  and  which 
are  the  outcome  of  sexual  selection :  such  are  the  beard 
of  man,  the  antlers  of  the  stag,  the  beautiful  plumage 
of  the  bird  of  paradise  and  of  so  many  other  birds,  to- 
gether with  other  distinctions  of  the  male  which  are 
absent  in  the  female. 

Among  the  above  theses  as  to  the  physiology  of  con- 
ception the  inheritance  of  the  psychic  qualities  of  the 
two  parents  is  of  particular  importance  for  psycho- 
logical purposes.  It  is  well  known  that  every  child 
inherits  from  both  his  parents  peculiarities  of  char- 
acter, temperament,  talent,  acuteness  of  sense,  and 
strength  of  will.  It  is  equally  well  known  that  even 
psychic  qualities  are  often  (if  not  always)  transmitted 
from  grandparents  by  heredity — often,  in  fact,  a  man 
resembles  his  grandparents  more  than  his  parents  in 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

certain  respects;  and  that  is  true  both  of  bodily  and 
mental  features.  All  the  chief  laws  of  heredity  which 
I  first  formulated  in  my  General  Morphology,  and  pop- 
ularized in  my  Natural  History  of  Creation,  are  just  as 
valid  and  universal  in  their  application  to  psychic  phe- 
nomena as  to  bodily  structure — in  fact,  they  are  fre- 
quently more  striking  and  conspicuous  in  the  former 
than  in  the  latter. 

However,  the  great  province  of  heredity,  to  the  ines- 
timable importance  of  which  Darwin  first  opened  our 
eyes  in  1859,  is  thickly  beset  with  obscure  problems  and 
physiological  difficulties.  We  dare  not  claim,  even  af- 
ter forty  years  of  research,  that  all  its  aspects  are  clear 
to  us.  Yet  we  have  done  so  much  that  we  can  confi- 
dently speak  of  heredity  as  a  physiological  function  of 
the  organism,  which  is  directly  connected  with  the  fac- 
ulty of  generation ;  and  we  must  reduce  it,  like  all  other 
vital  phenomena,  to  exclusively  physical  and  chemical 
processes,  to  the  mechanics  of  the  protoplasm.  We  now 
know  accurately  enough  the  process  of  impregnation 
itself ;  we  know  that  in  it  the  nucleus  of  the  spermato- 
zoon contributes  the  qualities  of  the  male  parent,  and 
the  nucleus  of  the  ovum  gives  the  qualities  of  the 
mother,  to  the  newly  born  stem-cell.  The  blending  of 
the  two  nuclei  is  the  "physiological  moment"  of 
heredity ;  by  it  the  personal  features  of  both  body  and 
soul  are  transmitted  to  the  new  individual.  These 
facts  of  ontogeny  are  beyond  the  explanation  of  the 
dualistic  and  mystic  psychology  which  still  prevails 
in  the  schools ;  whereas  they  find  a  perfectly  simple  in- 
terpretation in  our  monistic  philosophy. 

The  physiological  fact  which  is  most  material  for  a 
correct  appreciation  of  individual  psychogeny  is  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  psyche  through  the  rise  and  fall  of  genera- 

140 


THE   EMBRYOLOGY   OF   THE   SOUL 

tions.  A  new  individual  comes  into  existence  at  the 
moment  of  conception;  yet  it  is  not  an  independent 
entity,  either  in  respect  of  its  mental  or  its  bodily  feat- 
ures, but  merely  the  product  of  the  blending  of  the  two 
parental  factors,  the  maternal  egg-cell  and  paternal 
sperm-cell.  The  cell-souls  of  these  two  sexual  cells 
combine  in  the  act  of  conception  for  the  formation  of  a 
new  cell-soul,  just  as  truly  as  the  two  cell-nuclei,  which 
are  the  material  vehicles  of  this  psychic  potential  en- 
ergy, unite  to  form  a  new  nucleus.  As  we  now  see  that 
the  individuals  of  one  and  the  same  species — even  sis- 
ters born  of  the  same  parents — always  show  certain 
differences,  however  slight,  we  must  assume  that  these 
variations  were  already  present  in  the  chemical  plas- 
matic  constitution  of  the  generative  cells  themselves.* 
These  facts  alone  would  suffice  to  explain  the  infinite 
variety  of  individual  features,  of  soul  and  of  bodily 
form,  that  we  find  in  the  organic  world.  As  an  ex- 
treme, but  one-sided,  consequence  of  them,  there  is  the 
theory  of  Weismann,  which  considers  the  amphimixis, 
or  the  blending  of  the  germ-plasm  in  sexual  generation, 
to  be  the  universal  and  the  sole  cause  of  individual  vari- 
ability. This  exclusive  theory,  which  is  connected  with 
his  theory  of  the  continuity  of  the  germ-plasm,  is,  in 
my  opinion,  an  exaggeration.  I  am  convinced,  on  the 
contrary,  that  the  great  laws  of  progressive  heredity  and 
of  the  correlative  functional  adaptation  apply  to  the  soul 
as  well  as  to  the  body.  The  new  characteristics  which 
the  individual  has  acquired  during  life  may  react  to 
some  extent  on  the  molecular  texture  of  the  germ- 
plasm  in  the  egg-cell  and  sperm-cell,  and  may  thus 
be  transferred  to  the  next  generation  by  heredity  in 

*  Law  of  individual  variation.     Vide  Natural  History  of  Cre- 
ation. 

141 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

certain  conditions  (naturally,  only  in  the  form  of  latent 
energy). 

Although  in  the  soul-blending  at  the  moment  of  con- 
ception only  the  latent  forces  of  the  two  parent  souls  are 
transmitted  by  the  coalescence  of  the  erotic  cell-nuclei, 
still  it  is  possible  that  the  hereditary  psychic  influence 
of  earlier,  and  sometimes  very  much  older,  generations 
may  be  communicated  at  the  same  time.  For  the  laws 
of  latent  heredity  or  atavism  apply  to  the  soul  just  as 
validly  as  to  the  anatomical  organization.  We  find 
these  remarkable  phenomena  of  reversion  in  a  very  sim- 
ple and  instructive  form  in  the  alternation  of  genera- 
tions of  the  polyps  and  medusae.  Here  we  see  two  very 
different  generations  alternate  so  regularly  that  the 
first  resembles  the  third,  fifth,  and  so  on  ;  while  the  sec- 
ond (very  different  from  the  preceding)  is  like  the  fourth, 
sixth,  etc.  (Natural  History  of  Creation).  We  do  not 
find  such  alternation  of  generations  in  man  and  the 
higher  animals  and  plants,  in  which,  owing  to  continu- 
ous heredity,  each  generation  resembles  the  next ;  nev- 
ertheless, even  in  these  cases  we  often  meet  with  phe- 
nomena of  reversion,  which  must  be  reduced  to  the  same 
law  of  latent  heredity. 

Eminent  men  often  take  more  after  their  grand- 
parents than  their  parents  even  in  the  finer  shades  of 
psychic  activity — in  the  possession  of  certain  artistic 
talents  or  inclinations,  in  force  of  character,  and  in 
warmth  of  temperament;  not  infrequently  there  is  a 
striking  feature  which  neither  parents  nor  grandpar- 
ents possessed,  but  which  may  be  traced  a  long  way  back 
to  an  older  branch  of  the  family.  Even  in  these  re- 
markable cases  of  atavism  the  same  laws  of  heredity 
apply  to  the  psyche  and  to  the  physiognomy,  to  the  per- 
sonal quality  of  the  sense-organs,  muscles,  skeleton, 

142 


THE    EMBRYOLOGY    OF    THE    SOUL 

and  other  parts  of  the  body.  We  can  trace  them  most 
clearly  in  the  reigning  dynasties  and  in  old  families 
of  the  nobility,  whose  conspicuous  share  in  the  life  of 
the  State  has  given  occasion  to  a  more  careful  historical 
picture  of  the  individuals  in  the  chain  of  generations 
—for  instance,  in  the  Hohenzollerns,  the  princes  of 
Orange,  the  Bourbons,  etc.,  and  in  the  Roman  Caesars. 

The  causal-nexus  of  biontic  (individual)  and  phyletic 
(historical)  evolution,  which  I  gave  in  my  General 
Morphology  as  the  supreme  law  at  the  root  of  all  bio- 
genetic  research,  has  a  universal  application  to  psy- 
chology no  less  than  to  morphology.  I  have  fully 
treated  the  special  importance  which  it  has  with  re- 
gard to  man,  in  both  respects,  in  the  first  chapter  of 
my  Anthropogeny.  In  man,  as  in  all  other  organisms, 
"  the  embryonic  development  is  an  epitome  of  the  his- 
torical development  of  the  species.  This  condensed 
and  abbreviated  recapitulation  is  the  more  complete 
in  proportion  as  the  original  epitomized  development 
(palingenesis)  is  preserved  by  a  constant  heredity; 
on  the  other  hand,  it  falls  off  from  completeness  in 
proportion  as  the  later  disturbing  development  (ceno- 
genesis)  is  accentuated  by  varying  adaptation." 

While  we  apply  this  law  to  the  evolution  of  the  soul, 
we  must  lay  special  stress  on  the  injunction  to  keep 
both  sides  of  it  critically  before  us.  For,  in  the  case  of 
man,  just  as  in  all  the  higher  animals  and  plants,  such 
appreciable  perturbations  of  type  (or  cenogeneses)  have 
taken  place  during  the  millions  of  years  of  develop- 
ment that  the  original  simple  idea  of  palingenesis,  or 
"epitome  of  history,"  has  been  greatly  disturbed  and 
altered.  While,  on  the  one  side,  the  palingenetic  re- 
capitulation is  preserved  by  the  laws  of  like-time  and 
like-place  heredity,  it  is  subject  to  an  essential  ceno- 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

genetic  change,  on  the  other  hand,  by  the  laws  of  abbre- 
viated and  simplified  heredity.  That  is  clearly  seen 
in  the  embryonic  evolution  of  the  psychic  organs,  the 
nervous  system,  the  muscles,  and  the  sense-organs. 
But  it  applies  in  just  the  same  manner  to  the  psychic 
functions,  which  are  absolutely  dependent  on  the  nor- 
mal construction  of  these  organs.  Their  evolution  is 
subject  to  great  cenogenetic  modification  in  man  and 
all  other  viviporous  animals,  precisely  because  the  com- 
plete development  of  the  embryo  occupies  a  longer  time 
within  the  body  of  the  mother.  But  we  have  to  distin- 
guish two  periods  of  individual  psychogeny:  (i)  the 
embryonic,  and  (2)  the  post-embryonic  development  of 
the  soul. 

I.  Embryonic  Psychogeny. — The  human  foetus,  or 
embryo,  normally  takes  nine  months  (or  two  hundred 
and  seventy  days)  to  develop  in  the  uterus.  During 
this  time  it  is  entirely  cut  off  from  the  outer  world,  and 
protected,  not  only  by  the  thick  muscular  wall  of  the 
womb,  but  also  by  the  special  foetal  membranes  (em- 
bryolemmata)  which  are  common  to  all  the  three  higher 
classes  of  vertebrates — reptiles,  birds,  and  mammals. 
In  all  the  classes  of  amniotes  these  membranes  (the 
amnion  and  the  serolemma)  develop  in  just  the  same 
fashion.  They  represent  the  protective  arrangements 
which  were  acquired  by  the  earliest  reptiles  (prorep- 
tilia),  the  common  parents  of  all  the  amniotes,  in  the 
Permian  period  (towards  the  end  of  the  palaeozoic  age), 
when  these  higher  vertebrates  accustomed  themselves 
to  live  on  land  and  breathe  the  atmosphere.  Their 
ancestors,  the  amphibia  of  the  Carboniferous  period, 
still  lived  and  breathed  in  the  water,  like  their  earlier 
predecessors,  the  fishes. 

In  the  case  of  these  older  and  lower  vertebrates  thai 
144 


THE    EMBRYOLOGY   OF   THE    SOUL 

lived  in  the  water,  the  embryonic  development  had  the 
palingenetic  character  in  a  still  higher  degree,  as  is 
the  case  in  most  of  the  fishes  and  amphibia  of  the  pres- 
ent day.  The  familiar  tadpole  and  the  larva  of  the 
salamander  or  the  frog  still  preserve  the  structure  of 
their  fish-ancestors  in  the  first  part  of  their  life  in  the 
water ;  they  resemble  them,  likewise,  in  their  habits  of 
life,  in  breathing  by  gills,  in  the  action  of  their  sense- 
organs,  and  in  other  psychic  organs.  Then,  when  the 
interesting  metamorphosis  of  the  swimming  tadpole 
takes  place,  and  when  it  adapts  itself  to  a  land-life,  the 
fish-like  body  changes  into  that  of  a  four-footed,  crawl- 
ing amphibium;  instead  of  the  gill-breathing  in  the 
water  comes  an  exclusive  breathing  of  the  atmosphere 
by  means  of  lungs,  and,  with  the  changed  habits  of 
life,  even  the  psychic  apparatus,  the  nervous  system, 
and  the  sense-organs  reach  a  higher  degree  of  con- 
struction. If  we  could  completely  follow  the  psychog- 
eny  of  the  tadpole  from  beginning  to  end,  we  should  be 
able  to  apply  the  biogenetic  law  in  many  ways  to  its 
psychic  evolution.  For  it  develops  in  direct  commu- 
nication with  the  changing  conditions  of  the  outer 
world,  and  so  must  quickly  adapt  its  sensation  and 
movement  to  these.  The  swimming  tadpole  has  not 
only  the  structure  but  the  habits  of  life  of  a  fish,  and 
only  acquires  those  of  a  frog  in  its  metamorphosis. 

It  is  different  with  man  and  all  the  other  amniotes ; 
their  embryo  is  entirely  withdrawn  from  the  direct  in- 
fluence of  the  outer  world,  and  cut  off  from  any  recip- 
rocal action  therewith,  by  enclosure  in  its  protective 
membranes.  Besides,  the  special  care  of  the  young 
on  the  part  of  the  amniotes  gives  their  embryo  much 
more  favorable  conditions  for  the  cenogenetic  abbre- 
viation of  the  palingenetic  evolution.  There  is,  in  the 


THE   RIDDLE   OF  THE   UNIVERSE 

first  place,  the  excellent  arrangement  for  the  nourish- 
ment of  the  embryo ;  in  the  reptiles,  birds,  and  mono- 
tremes  (the  oviparous  mammals)  it  is  effected  by  the 
great  yellow  nutritive  yelk,  which  is  associated  with 
the  egg ;  in  the  rest  of  the  mammals  (the  marsupials 
and  placentals)  it  is  effected  by  the  mother's  blood, 
which  is  conducted  to  the  foetus  by  the  blood-vessels 
of  the  yelk-sac  and  the  allantois.  In  the  case  of  the 
most  highly  developed  placentals  this  elaborate  nutri- 
tive arrangement  has  reached  the  highest  degree  of 
perfection  by  the  construction  of  a  placenta ;  hence  in 
these  classes  the  embryo  is  fully  developed  before  birth. 
But  its  soul  remains  during  all  this  time  in  a  state  of 
embryonic  slumber,  a  state  of  repose  which  Preyer  has 
justly  compared  to  the  hibernation  of  animals.  We 
have  a  similar  long  sleep  in  the  chrysalis  stage  of  those 
insects  which  undergo  a  complete  metamorphosis- 
butterflies,  bees,  flies,  beetles,  and  so  forth.  This  sleep 
of  the  pupa,  during  which  the  most  important  forma- 
tions of  organs  and  tissues  take  place,  is  the  more  in- 
teresting from  the  fact  that  the  preceding  condition  of 
the  free  larva  (caterpillar,  grub,  or  maggot)  included 
a  highly  developed  psychic  activity,  and  that  this  is, 
significantly,  lower  than  the  stage  which  is  seen  after- 
wards (when  the  chrysalis  sleep  is  over)  in  the  perfect, 
winged,  sexually  mature  insect. 

Man's  psychic  activity,  like  that  of  most  of  the  high- 
er animals,  runs  through  a  long  series  of  stages  of  de- 
velopment during  the  individual  life.  We  may  single 
out  the  five  following  as  the  most  important  of  them : 

I.  The  soul  of  the  new-born  infant  up  to  the  birth 
of  self-consciousness  and  the  learning  of  speech. 

II.  The  soul  of  the  boy  or  girl  up  to  puberty  (i.e., 
until  the  awakening  of  the  sexual  instinct). 

146 


THE   EMBRYOLOGY   OF   THE   SOUL 

III.  The  soul  of  the  youth  or  maiden  up  to  the  time 
of  sexual  intercourse  (the  "  idealist  "  period). 

IV.  The  soul  of  the  grown  man  and  the  mature 
woman  (the  period  of  full  maturity  and  of  the  found- 
ing of  families,  lasting  until  about  the  sixtieth  year 
for  the  man  and  the  fiftieth  for  the  woman — until  in- 
volution sets  in). 

V.  The  soul  of  the  old  man  or  woman  (the  period 
of  degeneration). 

Man's  psychic  life  runs  the  same  evolution — upward 
progress,  full  maturity,  and  downward  degeneration — 
as  every  other  vital  activity  in  his  organization. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  PHYLOGENY  OF  THE  SOUL 

Gradual  Historical  Evolution  of  the  Human  Soul  from  the  Animal 
Soul — Methods  of  Phylogenetic  Psychology — Four  Chief 
Stages  in  the  Phylogeny  of  the  Soul :  I.  The  Cell-Soul  (Cyto- 
psyche)  of  the  Protist  (Infusoria,  Ova,  etc.) :  Cellular  Psychol- 
ogy ;  II.  The  Soul  of  a  Colony  of  Cells,  or  the  Cenobitic  Soul 
(Ccenopsyche) :  Psychology  of  the  Morula  and  Blastula ;  III. 
The  Soul  of  the  Tissue  (Histopsyche) :  Its  Twofold  Nature : 
The  Soul  of  the  Plant:  The  Soul  of  the  Lower,  Nerveless 
Animal :  Double  Soul  of  the  Siphonophora  (Personal  and  Kor- 
mal  Soul) ;  IV.  The  Nerve-Soul  (Neuropsyche)  of  the  Higher 
Animal — Three  Sections  of  its  Psychic  Apparatus  :  Sense- 
Organs,  Muscles,  and  Nerves — Typical  Formation  of  the 
Nerve-Centre  in  the  Various  Groups  of  Animals — Psychic 
Organ  of  the  Vertebrate :  the  Brain  and  the  Spinal  Cord — 
Phylogeny  of  the  Mammal  Soul. 

r"THE  theory  of  descent,  combined  with  anthropolog- 
*  ical  research,  has  convinced  us  of  the  descent  of 
our  human  organism  from  a  long  series  of  animal  an- 
cestors by  a  slow  and  gradual  transformation  occupy- 
ing many  millions  of  years.  Since,  then,  we  cannot 
dissever  man's  psychic  life  from  the  rest  of  his  vital 
functions — we  are  rather  forced  to  a  conviction  of  the 
natural  evolution  of  our  whole  body  and  mind — it  be- 
comes one  of  the  main  tasks  of  the  modern  monistic 
psychology  to  trace  the  stages  of  the  historical  develop- 
ment of  the  soul  of  man  from  the  soul  of  the  brute.  Our 
*  phylogeny  of  the  soui  "  seeks  to  attain  this  object;  it 

148 


THE    PHYLOGENY   OF    THE    SOUL 

may  also,  as  a  branch  of  general  psychology,  be  called 
phylogenetic  psychology,  or,  in  contradistinction  to  bi- 
ontic  (individual),  phyletic  psychogeny.  And,  although 
this  new  science  has  scarcely  been  taken  up  in  earnest 
yet,  and  most  of  the  "  professional "  psychologists  deny 
its  very  right  to  existence,  we  must  claim  for  it  the  ut- 
most importance  and  the  deepest  interest.  For,  in  our 
opinion,  it  is  its  special  province  to  solve  for  us  the 
great  enigma  of  the  nature  and  origin  of  the  human 
soul. 

The  methods  and  paths  which  will  lead  us  to  the  re- 
mote goal  of  a  complete  phylogenetic  psychology — a 
goal  that  is  still  buried  in  the  mists  of  the  future,  and 
almost  imperceptible  to  many — do  not  differ  from  those 
of  other  branches  of  evolutionary  research.  Compar- 
ative anatomy,  physiology,  and  ontogeny  are  of  the  first 
importance.  Much  support  is  given  also  by  palaeon- 
tology, for  the  order  in  which  the  fossil  remains  of  the 
various  classes  of  vertebrates  succeed  each  other  in  the 
course  of  organic  evolution  reveals  to  us,  to  some  ex- 
tent, the  gradual  growth  of  their  psychic  power  as  well 
as  their  phyletic  connection.  We  must  admit  that  we 
are  here,  as  we  are  in  every  branch  of  phylogenetic  re- 
search, driven  to  the  construction  of  a  number  of  hy- 
potheses in  order  to  fill  up  the  considerable  lacunae  of 
empirical  phylogeny.  Yet  these  hypotheses  cast  so 
clear  and  significant  a  light  on  the  chief  stages  of  his- 
torical development  that  we  are  afforded  a  most  gratify- 
ing insight  into  their  entire  course. 

The  comparative  psychology  of  man  and  the  higher 
animals  enables  us  to  learn  from  the  highest  group  of 
the  placentals,  the  primates,  the  long  strides  by  which 
the  human  soul  has  advanced  beyond  the  psyche  of  the 
anthropoid  ape.  The  phylogeny  of  the  mammals  and  of 

149 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

the  lower  vertebrates  acquaints  us  with  the  long  series 
of  the  earlier  ancestors  of  the  primates  which  have  arisen 
within  this  stem  since  the  Silurian  age.  All  these  ver- 
tebrates agree  in  the  structure  and  development  of  their 
characteristic  psychic  organ  —  the  spinal  cord.  We 
learn  from  the  comparative  anatomy  of  the  vermalia 
that  this  spinal  cord  has  been  evolved  from  a  dorsal  aero- 
ganglion,  or  vertical  brain,  of  an  invertebrate  ancestor. 
We  learn,  further,  from  comparative  ontogeny  that  this 
simple  psychic  organ  has  been  evolved  from  the  stratum 
of  cells  in  the  outer  germinal  layer>  the  ectoderm,  of  the 
platodes.  In  these  earliest  flat-worms,  which  have  no 
specialized  nervous  system,  the  outer  skin -covering 
serves  as  a  general  sensitive  and  psychic  organ.  Fi- 
nally, comparative  embryology  teaches  us  that  these 
simple  metazoa  have  arisen  by  gastrulation  from  blas- 
taeades,  from  hollow  spheres,  the  wall  of  which  is  merely 
one  simple  layer  of  cells,  the  blastoderm  ;  and  the  same 
science,  with  the  aid  of  the  biogenetic  law,  explains  how 
these  protozoic  coenobia  originally  sprang  from  the  sim- 
plest unicellular  organisms. 

On  a  critical  study  of  these  different  embryonic  for- 
mations, the  evolution  of  which  from  each  other  we  can 
directly  observe  under  the  microscope,  we  arrive,  by 
means  of  the  great  law  of  biogeny,  at  a  series  of  most 
important  conclusions  as  to  the  chief  stages  in  the  de- 
velopment of  our  psychic  life.  We  may  distinguish 
eight  of  these  to  begin  with : 

I.  Unicellular  protozoa  with  a  simple  cell-soul :  the 
infusoria. 

II.  Multicellular  protozoa  with  a  communal   soul: 
the  catallacta. 

III.  The  earliest  metazoa  with  an  epithelial  soul: 
the  platodes. 


THE    PHYLOGENY   OF   THE    SOUL 

IV.  Invertebrate   ancestors  with  a  simple  vertical 
brain :  the  vermalia. 

V.  Vertebrates  without  skull  or  brain,  with  a  simple 
spinal  cord:  the  acrania. 

VI.  Animals  with  skull  and  brain  (of  five  vesicles) : 
the  craniota. 

VII.  Mammals  with  predominant  development  of  the 
cortex  of  the  brain :  the  placentals. 

VIII.  The  higher  anthropoid  apes  and  man,  with 
organs  of  thought  (in  the  cerebrum) :  the  anthropo- 
morpha. 

Among  these  eight  stages  in  the  development  of  the 
human  soul  we  may  further  distinguish  more  or  less 
clearly  a  number  of  subordinate  stages.  Naturally, 
however,  in  reconstructing  them  we  have  to  fall  back 
on  the  same  defective  evidence  of  empirical  psychology 
which  the  comparative  anatomy  and  physiology  of  the 
actual  fauna  affords  us.  As  the  craniote  animals  of 
the  sixth  stage — and  these  are  true  fishes — are  already 
found  fossilized  in  the  Silurian  system,  we  are  forced  to 
assume  that  the  five  preceding  series  of  ancestors  (which 
were  incapable  of  fossilization)  were  evolved  in  an  ear- 
lier, pre-Silurian  age. 

I.  The  cell-soul  (or  cytopsyche) :  first  stage  of  phyletic 
psychogenesis. — The  earliest  ancestors  of  man  and  all 
other  animals  were  unicellular  protozoa.  This  fun- 
damental hypothesis  of  rational  phylogeny  is  based, 
in  virtue  of  the  phylogenetic  law,  on  the  familiar  em- 
bryological  fact  that  every  man,  like  every  other 
metazoon  (i.e.,  every  multicellular  organism  with  tis- 
sues), begins  his  personal  existence  as  a  simple  cell, 
the  stem -cell  (cytula),  or  the  impregnated  egg -cell 
(see  p.  63).  As  this  cell  has  a  "soul"  from  the  com- 
mencement, so  had  also  the  corresponding  unicellu- 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

lar  ancestral  forms,  which  were  represented  in  the  old- 
est series  of  man's  ancestors  by  a  number  of  different 
protozoa. 

We  learn  the  character  of  the  psychic  activity  of 
these  unicellular  organisms  from  the  comparative 
physiology  of  the  protists  of  to-day.  Close  observa- 
tion and  careful  experiment  have  opened  out  to  us  in 
this  respect,  in  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, a  new  world  of  the  most  interesting  phenomena. 
The  best  description  of  them  was  given  by  Max  Ver- 
worn  in  his  thoughtful  work,  based  on  original  re- 
search, Psycho-physiological  Studies  of  the  Protists. 
The  work  includes  also  the  few  earlier  observations 
of  the  "psychic  life  of  the  protist."  Verworn  came  to 
the  firm  conclusion  that  the  psychic  processes  are  un- 
conscious in  all  the  protists,  that  the  phenomena  of 
sensation  and  movement  coincide  with  the  molecular 
vital  processes  in  their  protoplasm,  and  that  their  ulti- 
mate causes  are  to  be  sought  in  the  properties  of  the 
protoplasmic  molecules  (the  plastidules) .  "  Hence  the 
psychic  phenomena  of  the  protists  form  a  bridge  that 
connects  the  chemical  processes  of  the  inorganic  world 
with  the  psychic  life  of  the  highest  animals;  they 
represent  the  germ  of  the  highest  psychic  phenomena 
of  the  metazoa  and  of  man." 

The  careful  observations  and  many  experiments  of 
Verworn,  together  with  those  of  Wilhelm  Engelmann, 
Wilhelm  Preyer,  Richard  Hertwig,  and  other  more 
recent  students  of  the  protists,  afford  conlcusive  evi- 
dence for  my  "theory  of  the  cell-soul"  (1866).  On  the 
strength  of  several  years  of  study  of  different  kinds 
of  protists,  especially  rhizopods  and  infusoria,  I  pub- 
lished a  theory  thirty-three  years  ago  to  the  effect  that 
every  living  cell  has  psychic  properties,  and  that  the 

152 


THE    PHYLOGENY   OF   THE    SOUL 

psychic  life  of  the  multicellular  animals  and  plants  is 
merely  the  sum  total  of  the  psychic  functions  of  the 
cells  which  build  up  their  structure.  In  the  lower 
groups  (in  algae  and  sponges,  for  instance)  all  the  cells 
of  the  body  have  an  equal  share  in  it  (or  with  very  slight 
differences) ;  in  the  higher  groups,  in  harmony  with 
the  law  of  the  "  division  of  labor/'  only  a  select  portion 
of  them  are  involved — the  "soul-cells."  The  impor- 
tant consequences  of  this  a  cellular  psychology  "  were 
partly  treated  in  my  work  on  The  Perigenesis  of  the 
Plastidule  (1876),  and  partly  in  my  speech  at  Munich, 
in  1877,  on  "  Modern  Evolution  in  Relation  to  the  Whole 
of  Science."  A  more  popular  presentation  of  them 
is  to  be  found  in  my  two  Vienna  papers  (1878)  on  "  The 
Origin  and  Development  of  the  Sense-Organs"  and 
on  "Cell-Souls  and  Soul-Cells." 

Moreover,  the  cell-soul,  even  within  the  limits  of  the 
protist  world,  presents  a  long  series  of  stages  of  devel- 
opment, from  the  most  simple  and  primitive  to  a  com- 
paratively elaborate  activity.  In  the  earliest  and  sim- 
plest protists  the  faculty  of  sensation  and  movement 
is  equally  distributed  over  the  entire  protoplasm  of  the 
homogeneous  morsel ;  in  the  higher  forms  certain  "  cell- 
instruments,"  or  organdla,  appear,  as  their  physio- 
logical organs.  Motor  cell-parts  of  that  character  are 
found  in  the  pseudopodia  of  the  rhizopods,  and  the  vi- 
brating hairs,  lashes,  or  cilia  of  the  infusoria.  The 
cell-nucleus,  which  is  wanting  in  the  earlier  and  lower 
protists,  is  considered  to  be  an  internal  central  organ 
of  the  cell-life.  It  is  especially  noteworthy,  from  a 
physiologico-chemical  point  of  view,  that  the  very  ear- 
liest protists  were  plasmodomous,  with  plant-like  nu- 
trition— hence  protophyta,  or  primitive  plants;  from 
these  came  as  a  secondary  stage,  by  metasitism,  the 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

first  plasmophagi,  with  animal  nutrition — the  proto- 
zoa, or  primitive  animals.*  This  metasitism,  or  cir- 
culation of  nutritive  matter,  implies  an  important  psy- 
chological advance;  with  it  began  the  development 
of  those  characteristic  properties  of  the  animal  soul 
which  are  wanting  in  the  plant. 

We  find  the  highest  development  of  the  animal  cell- 
soul  in  the  class  of  ciliata,  or  ciliated  infusoria.  When 
We  compare  their  activity  with  the  corresponding  psy- 
chic life  of  the  higher,  multicellular  animals,  we  find 
scarcely  any  psychological  difference;  the  sensitive 
and  motor  organella  of  these  protozoa  seem  to  accom- 
plish the  same  as  the  sense-organs,  nerves,  and  muscles 
of  the  metazoa.  Indeed,  we  have  found  in  the  great 
cell-nucleus  (meganucleus)  of  the  infusoria  a  central 
organ  of  psychic  activity,  which  plays  much  the  same 
part  in  their  unicellular  organism  as  the  brain  does 
in  the  psychic  life  of  higher  animals.  However,  it  is 
very  difficult  to  determine  how  far  this  comparison  is 
justified;  the  views  of  experts  diverge  considerably 
over  the  matter.  Some  take  all  spontaneous  bodily 
movement  in  them  to  be  automatic,  or  impulsive,  and 
all  stimulated  movement  to  be  reflex;  others  are  con- 
vinced that  such  movements  are  partly  voluntary  and 
intentional.  The  latter  would  attribute  to  the  infusoria 
a  certain  degree  of  consciousness,  and  even  self-con- 
sciousness; but  this  is  rejected  by  the  others.  How- 
ever that  very  difficult  question  may  be  settled,  it  does 
not  alter  the  fact  that  these  unicellular  protozoa  give 
proof  of  the  possession  of  a  highly  developed  "cell- 
soul,"  which  is  of  great  interest  for  a  correct  decision 
as  to  the  psyche  of  our  earliest  unicellular  ancestors. 

*  Cf.  E.  Haeckel,  Systematic  Phytogeny,  vol.  i. 


THE    PHYLOGENY   OF   THE    SOUL 

II.  The  communal  or  cenobitic  soul  (coenopsyche) : 
second  stage  of  phyletic  psychogenesis. — Individual 
development  begins,  in  man  and  in  all  other  multi- 
cellular  animals,  with  the  repeated  segmentation  of 
one  simple  cell.  This  stem-cell,  the  impregnated  ovum, 
divides  first  into  two  daughter  cells,  by  a  process  of 
ordinary  indirect  segmentation;  as  the  process  is  re- 
peated there  arise  (by  equal  division  of  the  egg)  suc- 
cessively four,  eight,  sixteen,  thirty-two,  sixty -four 
such  new  cells,  or  "  blastomeres."  Usually  (that  is, 
in  the  case  of  the  majority  of  animals)  an  irregular  en- 
largement sooner  or  later  takes  the  place  of  this  original 
regular  division  of  cells.  But  the  result  is  the  same 
in  all  cases — the  formation  of  a  (generally  spherical) 
cluster  of  heterogeneous  (originally  homogeneous) 
cells.  This  stage  is  called  the  morula  ("mulberry," 
which  it  somewhat  resembles  in  shape).  Then,  as 
a  rule,  a  fluid  gathers  in  the  interior  of  this  aggregate  of 
cells;  it  changes  into  a  spherical  vesicle;  all  the  cells 
go  to  its  surface,  and  arrange  themselves  in  one  simple 
layer — the  blastoderm.  The  hollow  sphere  which  is 
thus  formed  is  the  important  stage  of  the  "germinal 
vesicle,"  the  blastula,  or  blastosphere. 

The  psychological  phenomena  which  we  directly 
observe  in  the  formation  of  the  blastula  are  partly 
sensations,  partly  movements,  of  this  community  of 
cells.  The  movements  may  be  divided  into  two  groups : 

(1)  the  inner  movements,  which  are  always  repeated  in 
substantially  the  same  manner  in  the  process  of  or- 
dinary (indirect)  segmentation  of   cells  (formation  of 
the  axis  of  the  nucleus,  mitosis,  karyokinesis,  etc.) ; 

(2)  the   outer   movements,    which  are   seen    in    the 
regular  change  of  position   of  the   social   cells  and 
their  grouping  for  the  construction  of  the  blastoderm. 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

We  assume  that  these  movements  are  hereditary  and 
unconscious,  because  they  are  always  determined  in 
the  same  fashion  by  heredity  from  the  earlier  protist 
ancestors.  The  sensations  also  fall  into  two  groups : 
(i)  the  sensations  of  the  individual  cells,  which  reveal 
themselves  in  the  assertion  of  their  individual  inde- 
pendence and  their  relation  to  neighboring  cells  (with 
which  they  are  in  contact,  and  partly  in  direct  com- 
bination, by  means  of  protoplasmic  fibres) ;  (2)  the 
common  sensation  of  the  entire  community  of  cells, 
which  is  seen  in  the  individual  formation  of  the  blastula 
as  a  hollow  vesicle. 

The  causal  interpretation  of  the  formation  of  the 
blastula  is  given  us  by  the  biogenetic  law,  which  ex- 
plains the  phenomena  we  directly  observe  to  be  the 
outcome  of  heredity,  and  relates  them  to  correspond- 
ing historical  processes  which  took  place  long  ago  in 
the  origin  of  the  earliest  protist-coenobia,  the  blastseads. 
But  we  get  a  physiological  and  psychological  insight 
into  these  important  phenomena  of  the  earliest  cell- 
communities  by  observation  and  experiment  on  their 
modern  representatives.  Such  permanent  cell -com- 
munities or  colonies  are  still  found  in  great  numbers 
both  among  the  plasmodomous  primitive  plants  (for 
instance,  the  paulotomacea,  diatomacea,  volvocinae, 
etc.)  and  the  plasmophagous  primitive  animals  (the 
infusoria  and  rhizopods).  In  all  these  coenobia  we 
can  easily  distinguish  two  different  grades  of  psychic 
activity:  (i)  the  cell-soul  of  the  individual  cells  (the 
"  elementary  organisms  ")  and  (2)  the  communal  soul 
of  the  entire  colony. 

III.  The  tissue -soul  (histopsyche) :  third  stage  of 
phyletic  psychogenesis. — In  all  multicellular,  tissue- 
forming  plants  (metaphyta)  and  in  the  lowest,  nerve- 


THE    PHYLOGENY   OF    THE    SOUL 

less  classes  of  tissue-forming  animals  (metazoa)  we 
have  to  distinguish  two  different  forms  of  psychic  ac- 
tivity— namely :  (i)  the  psyche  of  the  individual  cells 
which  compose  the  tissue,  and  (2)  the  psyche  of  the  tis- 
sue itself,  or  of  the  "  cell-state  "  which  is  made  up  of  the 
tissues.  This  "  tissue-soul "  is  the  higher  psychologi- 
cal function  which  gives  physiological  individuality  to 
the  compound  multicellular  organism  as  a  true  "cell- 
commonwealth."  It  controls  all  the  separate  "  cell- 
souls  "  of  the  social  cells  —  the  mutually  dependent 
"citizens"  which  constitute  the  community.  This  fun- 
damental twofold  character  of  the  psyche  in  the  meta- 
phyta  and  the  lower,  nerveless  metazoa  is  very  impor- 
tant. It  may  be  verified  by  unprejudiced  observation 
and  suitable  experiment.  In  the  first  place,  each  sin- 
gle cell  has  its  own  sensation  and  movement,  and,  in 
addition,  each  tissue  and  each  organ,  composed  of  a 
number  of  homogeneous  cells,  has  its  special  irritabil- 
ity and  psychic  unity  (e.g.,  the  pollen  and  stamens). 

A.  The  plant-soul  (phytopsyche)  is,  in  our  view,  the 
summary  of  the  entire  psychic  activity  of  the  tissue- 
forming,  multicellular  plant  (the  metaphyton,  as  dis- 
tinct from  the  unicellular  protophyton) ;  it  is,  however, 
the  subject  of  the  most  diverse  opinions  even  at  the 
present  day.  It  was  once  customary  to  draw  an  essen- 
tial distinction  between  the  plant  and  the  animal,  on 
the  ground  that  the  latter  had  a  "  soul "  and  the  plant 
had  none.  However,  an  unprejudiced  comparison  of 
the  irritability  and  movements  of  various  higher  plants 
and  lower  animals  convinced  many  observers,  even  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century,  that  there  must  be  a 
"  soul "  on  both  sides.  At  a  later  date  Fechner,  Leit- 
geb,  and  others  strongly  contended  for  the  plant-soul. 
But  a  profounder  knowledge  of  the  subject  was  ob- 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

tained  when  the  similarity  of  the  elementary  structure 
of  the  plant  and  of  the  animal  was  proved  by  the  cellu- 
lar theory,  and  especially  when  the  similarity  of  con- 
duct of  the  active,  living  protoplasm  in  both  was  shown 
in  the  plasma  theory  of  Max  Schultze  (1859).  Modern 
comparative  physiology  has  shown  that  the  physio- 
logical attitude  towards  various  stimuli  (light,  heat, 
electricity,  gravity,  friction,  chemical  action,  etc.)  of 
the  "  sensitive  "  portions  of  many  plants  and  animals 
is  exactly  the  same,  and  that  the  reflex  movements 
which  the  stimuli  elicit  take  place  in  precisely  the  same 
manner  on  both  sides.  Hence,  if  it  was  necessary  to 
attribute  this  activity  to  a  "  soul "  in  the  lower,  nerveless 
metazoa  (sponges,  polyps,  etc.),  it  was  also  necessary 
in  the  case  of  many  (if  not  all)  metaphyta,  at  least  in  the 
very  sensitive  mimosa,  the  "  fly-traps  "  (dionaea  and 
drosera),  and  the  numerous  kinds  of  climbing  plants. 
It  is  true  that  modern  vegetal  physiology  has  given 
a  purely  physical  explanation  of  many  of  these  stimu- 
lated movements,  or  tropisms,  by  special  features  of 
growth,  variations  of  pressure,  etc.  Yet  these  me- 
chanical causes  are  neither  more  nor  less  psychophysi- 
cal  than  the  similar  "  reflex  movements  "  of  the  sponges, 
polyps,  and  other  nerveless  metazoa,  even  though 
their  mechanism  is  entirely  different.  The  character  of 
the  tissue-soul  reveals  itself  in  the  same  way  in  both 
cases — the  cells  of  the  tissue  (the  regular,  orderly  struct- 
ure of  cells)  transmit  the  stimuli  they  have  received 
in  one  part,  and  thus  provoke  movements  of  other 
parts,  or  of  the  whole  organ.  This  transmission  of 
stimuli  has  as  much  title  to  be  called  "  psychic  activity  " 
as  its  more  complete  form  in  the  higher  animals  with 
nerves ;  the  anatomic  explanation  of  it  is  that  the  social 
cells  of  the  tissue,  or  cell-community,  are  not  isolated 

'58 


THE   PHYLOGENY   OF   THE    SOUL 

from  each  other  (as  was  formerly  supposed),  but  are 
connected  throughout  by  fine  threads  or  bridges  of 
protoplasm.  When  the  sensitive  mimosa  closes  its 
graceful  leaves  and  droops  its  stalk  at  contact,  or  on 
being  shaken ;  when  the  irritable  fly-trap  (the  diona3a) 
swiftly  clasps  its  leaves  together  at  a  touch,  and  capt- 
ures a  fly ;  the  sensation  seems  to  be  keener,  the  trans- 
mission of  the  stimulus  more  rapid,  and  the  movement 
more  energetic  than  in  the  reflex  action  of  the  stimu- 
lated bath-sponge  and  many  other  sponges. 

B.  The  soul  of  the  nerveless  metazoa. — Of  very  special 
interest  for  comparative  psychology  in  general,  and  for 
the  phylogeny  of  the  animal  soul  in  particular,  is  the 
psychic  activity  of  those  lower  metazoa  which  have 
tissues,  and  sometimes  differentiated  organs,  but  no 
nerves  or  specific  organs  of  sense.  To  this  category 
belong  four  different  groups  of  the  earliest  coelen- 
terates:  (a)  the  gastrseads,  (6)  the  platodaria,  (c)  the 
sponges,  and  (d)  the  hydropolyps,  the  lowest  form  of 
cnidaria. 

The  gastraeads  (or  animals  with  a  primitive  gut) 
form  a  small  group  of  the  lowest  coelenterates,  which 
is  of  great  importance  as  the  common  ancestral  group 
of  all  the  metazoa.  The  body  of  these  little  swimming 
animals  looks  like  a  tiny  (generally  oval)  vesicle, 
which  has  a  simple  cavity  with  one  opening — the  prim- 
itive gut  and  the  primitive  mouth.  The  wall  of  the  di- 
gestive cavity  is  formed  of  two  simple  layers  of  cells, 
or  epithelium,  the  inner  of  which — the  gut-layer — is 
responsible  for  the  vegetal  activity  of  nourishment, 
while  the  outer,  or  skin-layer,  discharges  the  animal 
functions  of  movement  and  sensation.  The  homoge- 
neous sensitive  cells  of  the  skin-layer  bear  long,  slender 
hairs  or  lashes  (cilia),  by  the  vibration  of  which  the 


THE   RIDDLE   OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

swimming  motion  is  effected.  The  few  surviving  forms 
of  gastraeads,  the  gastraemaria  (trichoplacidae)  and  cye- 
maria  (orthonectidae) ,  are  extremely  interesting,  from 
the  fact  that  they  remain  throughout  life  at  a  stage 
of  structure  which  is  passed  by  all  the  other  metazoa 
(from  the  sponge  to  man)  at  the  commencement  of  their 
embryonic  development.  As  I  have  shown  in  my  The- 
ory of  the  Gastraea  (1872),  a  very  characteristic  embry- 
onic form,  the  gastrula,  is  immediately  developed  from 
the  blastula  in  all  the  tissue  animals.  The  germinal 
membrane  (blastoderm),  which  represents  the  wall  of 
the  hollow  vesicle,  forms  a  depression  at  one  side,  and 
this  soon  sinks  in  so  deep  that  the  inner  cavity  of  the 
vesicle  disappears.  The  half  of  the  membrane  which 
bends  in  is  thus  laid  on,  and  inside,  the  other  half; 
the  latter  forms  the  skin-layer,  or  outer  germinal  layer 
(ectoderm  or  epiblast),  and  the  former  becomes  the  gut- 
layer,  or  inner  germinal  layer  (endoderm  or  hypoblast). 
The  new  cavity  of  the  cup-shaped  body  is  the  digestive 
stomach  cavity  (the  progaste),  and  its  opening  is  the 
primitive  mouth  (or  prostoma)*  The  skin-layer,  or  ec- 
toderm, is  the  primitive  psychic  organ  in  the  metazoa ; 
from  it,  in  all  the  nerve  animals,  not  only  the  external 
skin  and  the  organs  of  sense,  but  also  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, are  developed.  In  the  gastraeads,  which  have  no 
nerves,  all  the  cells  which  compose  the  simple  epithe- 
lium of  the  ectoderm  are  equally  organs  of  sensation 
and  of  movement ;  we  have  here  the  tissue-soul  in  its 
simplest  form. 

The  platodaria,  the  earliest  and  simplest  form  of  the 
platodes,  seem  to  be  of  the  same  primitive  construction. 
Some  of  these  cryptocoela — the  convoluta,  etc. — have 

*  Cf .  Anthropogeny  and  Natural  History  of  Creation. 
160 


THE    PHYLOGENY   OF   THE    SOUL 

no  specific  nervous  system,  while  their  nearest  rela- 
tives, the  turbellaria,  have  already  differentiated  one, 
and  even  developed  a  vertical  brain. 

The  sponges  form  a  peculiar  group  in  the  animal  world, 
which  differs  widely  in  organization  from  all  the  other 
metazoa.  The  innumerable  kinds  of  sponges  grow,  as 
a  rule,  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  The  simplest  form  of 
sponge,  the  olynthus,  is  in  reality  nothing  more  than  a 
gastraea,  the  body-wall  of  which  is  perforated  like  a 
sieve,  with  fine  pores,  in  order  to  permit  the  entrance  of 
the  nourishing  stream  of  water.  In  the  majority  of 
sponges — even  in  the  most  familiar  one,  the  bath-sponge 
— the  bulbous  organism  constructs  a  kind  of  stem  or  tree, 
which  is  made  up  of  thousands  of  these  gastraeads,  and 
permeated  by  a  nutritive  system  of  canals.  Sensation 
and  movement  are  only  developed  in  the  faintest  degree 
in  the  sponges ;  they  have  no  nerves,  muscles,  or  organs 
of  sense.  It  was  therefore  quite  natural  that  such 
stationary,  shapeless,  insensitive  animals  should  have 
been  commonly  taken  to  be  plants  in  earlier  years. 
Their  psychic  life — for  which  no  special  organs  have 
been  differentiated — is  far  inferior  to  that  of  the  mi- 
mosa and  other  sensitive  plants. 

The  soul  of  the  cnidaria  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
in  comparative  and  phylogenetic  psychology ;  for  in  this 
numerous  group  of  the  ccelenterates  the  historical  evo- 
lution of  the  nerve-soul  out  of  the  tissue-soul  is  repeated 
before  our  eyes.  To  this  group  belong  the  innumerable 
classes  of  stationary  polyps  and  corals,  and  of  swim- 
ming medusa3  and  siphonophora.  As  the  common  an- 
cestor of  all  the  cnidaria  we  can  safely  assign  a  very  sim- 
ple polyp,  which  is  substantially  the  same  in  structure 
as  the  common,  still  surviving,  fresh-water  polyp — the 
hydra.  Yet  the  hydrse,  and  the  stationary,  closely  re- 

161 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

lated  hydropolyps,  have  no  nerves  or  higher  sense-or- 
gans, although  they  are  extremely  sensitive.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  free-swimming  medusae,  which  are  de- 
veloped from  them — and  are  still  connected  with  them  by 
alternation  of  generations — have  an  independent  ner- 
vous system  and  specific  sense-organs.  Here,  also,  we 
may  directly  observe  the  ontogenetic  evolution  of  the 
nerve-soul  (neuropsyche)  out  of  the  tissue-soul  (histo- 
psyche),  and  thus  learn  its  phylogenetic  origin.  This 
is  the  more  interesting  as  such  phenomena  are  polyphy- 
letic — that  is,  they  have  occurred  several  times — more 
than  once,  at  least — quite  independently.  As  I  have 
shown  elsewhere,  the  hydromedusae  have  arisen  from  the 
hydropolyps  in  a  different  manner  from  that  of  the  evo- 
lution of  the  scyphomedusae  from  the  scyphopolyps ; 
the  gemmation  is  terminal  in  the  case  of  the  latter,  and 
lateral  with  the  former.  In  addition,  both  groups  have 
characteristic  hereditary  differences  in  the  more  minute 
structure  of  their  psychic  organs.  The  class  of  siphon- 
ophora  is  also  very  interesting  to  the  psychologist.  In 
these  pretty,  free-swimming  organisms,  which  come 
from  the  hydromedusae  we  can  observe  a  double  soul : 
the  personal  soul  of  the  numerous  individualities  which 
compose  them,  and  the  common,  harmoniously  acting 
psyche  of  the  entire  colony. 

IV.  The  rferve-soul  (neuropsyche) :  fourth  stage  of 
phyletic  psychogeny. — The  psychic  life  of  all  the  higher 
animals  is  conducted,  as  in  man,  by  means  of  a  more  or 
less  complicated  "psychic  apparatus."  This  appara- 
tus is  always  composed  of  three  chief  sections :  the  or- 
gans of  sense  are  responsible  for  the  various  sensations ; 
the  muscles  effect  the  movements ;  the  nerves  form  the 
connection  between  the  two  by  means  of  a  special  cen- 
tral organ,  the  brain  or  ganglion.  The  arrangement 

162 


THE    PHYLOGENY    OF    THE    SOUL 

and  action  of  this  psychic  mechanism  have  been  fre- 
quently compared  with  those  of  a  telegraphic  system : 
the  nerves  are  the  wires,  the  brain  the  central,  and  the 
sense-organs  subordinate  stations.  The  motor  nerves 
conduct  the  commands  of  the  will  centrif ugally  from  the 
nerve-centre  to  the  muscles,  by  the  contraction  of  which 
they  produce  the  movements :  the  sensitive  nerves  trans- 
mit the  various  sensations  centripetally — that  is,  from 
the  peripheral  sense-organs  to  the  brain,  and  thus  ren- 
der an  account  of  the  impressions  they  receive  from  the 
outer  world.  The  ganglionic  cells,  or  "psychic  cells," 
which  compose  the  central  nervous  organ,  are  the  most 
perfect  of  all  organic  elements ;  they  not  only  conduct 
the  commerce  between  the  muscles  and  the  organs  of 
sense,  but  they  also  effect  the  highest  performances  of 
the  animal  soul,  the  formation  of  ideas  and  thoughts, 
and  especially  consciousness. 

The  great  progress  of  anatomy,  physiology,  his- 
tology, and  ontogeny  has  recently  added  a  wealth 
of  interesting  discoveries  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
mechanism  of  the  soul.  If  speculative  philosophy 
assimilated  only  the  most  important  of  these  signif- 
icant results  of  empirical  biology,  it  would  have  a  very 
different  character  from  that  it  unfortunately  presents. 
As  I  have  not  space  for  an  exhaustive  treatment  of 
them  here,  I  will  confine  myself  to  a  relation  of  the  chief 
facts. 

Each  of  the  higher  animal  species  has  a  character- 
istic psychic  organ;  the  central  nervous  system  of 
each  has  certain  peculiarities  of  shape,  position,  and 
composition.  The  medusae,  among  the  radiating 
cnidaria,  have  a  ring  of  nervous  matter  at  the  border 
of  the  fringe,  generally  provided  with  four  or  eight 
ganglia.  The  mouth  of  the  five-rayed  cnidarion  is 

163 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

girt  with  a  nerve-ring,  from  which  proceed  five  branches. 
The  bi-symmetrical  platodes  and  the  vermalia  have  a 
vertical  brain,  or  acroganglion,  composed  of  two  dorsal 
ganglia,  lying  above  the  mouth;  from  these  "upper 
ganglia"  two  branch  nerves  proceed  to  the  skin  and 
the  muscles.  In  some  of  the  vermalia  and  in  the  mol- 
lusca  a  pair  of  ventral  "lower  ganglia"  are  added, 
which  are  connected  with  the  former  by  a  ring  round 
the  gullet.  This  ring  is  found  also  in  the  articulata; 
but  in  these  it  is  continued  on  the  belly  side  of  the 
long  body  as  a  ventral  medulla,  a  double  fibre  like  a 
rope-ladder,  which  expands  into  a  double  ganglion  in 
each  member.  The  vertebrates  have  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent formation  of  the  psychic  organ;  they  have  al- 
ways a  spinal  medulla  developed  at  the  back  of  the 
body;  and  from  an  expansion  of  its  fore  part  there 
arises  subsequently  the  characteristic  vesicular  brain.* 

Although  the  psychic  organs  of  the  higher  species 
of  animals  differ  very  materially  in  position,  form,  and 
composition,  nevertheless  comparative  anatomy  is  in 
a  position  to  prove  a  common  origin  for  most  of  them 
— namely,  from  the  vertical  brain  of  the  platodes  and 
vermalia;  they  have  all,  moreover,  had  their  origin 
in  the  outermost  layer  of  the  embryo,  the  ectoderm,  or 
outer  skin -layer.  Hence  we  find  the  same  typical 
structure  in  all  varieties  of  the  central  nervous  organ — 
a  combination  of  ganglionic  cells,  or  "psychic  cells" 
(the  real  active  elementary  organs  of  the  soul),  and  of 
nerve -fibres,  which  effect  the  connection  and  trans- 
mission of  the  action. 

The  first  fact  we  meet  in  the  comparative  psychol- 
ogy of  the  vertebrates,  and  which  should  be  the  em* 

*  Cf .  Natural  History  of  Creation. 
164 


THE    PHYLOGENY    OF   THE    SOUL 

pirical  starting-point  of  all  scientific  human  psychology, 
is  the  characteristic  structure  of  the  central  nervous 
system.  This  central  psychic  organ  has  a  particular 
position,  shape,  and  texture  in  the  vertebrate  as  it  has 
in  all  the  higher  species.  In  every  case  we  find  a  spi- 
nal medulla,  a  strong  cylindrical  nervous  cord,  which 
runs  down  the  middle  of  the  back,  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  vertebral  column  (or  the  cord  which  represents  it). 
In  every  case  a  number  of  nerves  branch  off  from  this 
medulla  in  regular  division,  one  pair  to  each  segment 
or  vertebra.  In  every  case  this  medullary  cord  arises 
in  the  same  way  in  the  foetus ;  a  fine  groove  appears 
in  the  middle  axis  of  the  skin  at  the  back ;  then  the  par- 
allel borders  of  this  medullary  groove  are  lifted  up  a 
little,  bend  over  towards  each  other,  and  form  into  a 
kind  of  tube. 

The  long  dorsal  cylindrical  medullary  tube  which 
is  thus  formed  is  thoroughly  characteristic  of  the  ver- 
tebrates ;  it  is  always  the  same  in  the  early  embryonic 
sketch  of  the  organism,  and  it  is  always  the  chief  feat- 
ure of  the  different  kinds  of  psychic  organ  which  evolve 
from  it  in  time.  Only  one  single  group  of  invertebrates 
has  a  similar  structure :  the  rare,  marine  tunicata, 
copelata,  ascidia,  and  thalidiae.  These  animals  have 
other  important  peculiarities  of  structure  (especially 
in  the  chorda  and  the  gut)  which  show  a  striking  di- 
vergence from  the  other  invertebrates  and  resemblance 
to  the  vertebrates.  The  inference  we  draw  is  that  both 
these  groups,  the  vertebrates  and  the  tunicates,  have 
arisen  from  a  common  ancestral  group  of  the  vermalia, 
the  prochordonia*  Still,  there  is  a  great  difference 
between  the  two  classes  in  the  fact  that  the  body  of  the 

*  See  chaps,  xvi.  and  xvii.  of  my  Anthropogeny. 

'65 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

tunicate  does  not  articulate,  or  form  members,  and  has 
a  very  simple  organization  (most  of  them  subsequently 
attach  themselves  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea  and  degen- 
erate). The  vertebrate,  on  the  other  hand,  is  charac- 
terized by  an  early  development  of  internal  members, 
and  the  formation  of  pro-vertebrae  (vertebratio) .  -  This 
prepares  the  way  for  the  much  higher  development  of 
their  organism,  which  finally  attains  perfection  in  man. 
This  is  easily  seen  in  the  finer  structure  of  his  spinal 
cord,  and  in  the  development  of  a  number  of  segmental 
pairs  of  nerves,  the  spinal  nerves,  which  proceed  to  the 
various  parts  of  the  body. 

The  long  ancestral  history  of  our  "  vertebrate  soul " 
commences  with  the  formation  of  the  most  rudimentary 
spinal  cord  in  the  earliest  acrania ;  slowly  and  gradu- 
ally, through  a  period  of  many  millions  of  years,  it 
conducts  to  that  marvellous  structure  of  the  human 
brain  which  seems  to  entitle  the  highest  primate  form 
to  quite  an  exceptional  position  in  nature.  Since  a 
clear  conception  of  this  slow  and  steady  progress  of 
our  phyletic  psychogeny  is  indispensable  for  a  true 
psychology,  we  must  divide  that  vast  period  into  a 
number  of  stages  or  sections :  in  each  of  them  the  per- 
fecting of  the  structure  of  the  nervous  centre  has  been 
accompanied  by  a  corresponding  evolution  of  its  func- 
tion, the  psyche.  I  distinguish  eight  of  these  periods 
in  the  phylogeny  of  the  spinal  cord,  which  are  charac- 
terized by  eight  different  groups  of  vertebrates :  (i)  the 
acrania ;  (2)  the  cyclostomata ;  (3)  the  fishes ;  (4)  the 
amphibia ;  (5)  the  implacental  mammals  (monotremes 
and  marsupials) ;  (6)  the  earlier  placental  mammals, 
especially  the  prosimiae;  (7)  the  younger  primates, 
the  simiae ;  and  (8)  the  anthropoid  apes  and  man. 

I.  First  stage  —  the  acrania:  their  only  modern 

166 


THE    PHYLOGENY    OF   THE   SOUL 

representative  is  the  lancelot  or  amphioxus;  the  psy- 
chic organ  remains  a  simple  medullary  tube,  and  con- 
tains a  regularly  segmented  spinal  cord,  without  brain. 

II.  Second  stage — the  cyclostomata :  the  oldest  group 
of  the  craniota,  now  only  represented  by  the  petromy- 
zontes  and  myxinoides  :   the  fore-termination  of  the 
cord  expands  into  a  vesicle,  which  then  subdivides 
into  five  successive  parts — the  great-brain,  intermedi- 
ate-brain, middle-brain,   little-brain,  and  hind-brain: 
these  five  cerebral  vesicles  form  the  common  type  from 
which  the  brain  of  all  craniota  has  evolved,  from  the 
lamprey  to  man. 

III.  Third  stage — the  primitive  fishes  (selachii) :  sim- 
ilar to  the  modern  shark:  in  these  oldest  fishes,  from 
which  all  the  gnathostomata  descend,  the  more  pro- 
nounced division  of  the  five  cerebral  vesicles  sets  in. 

IV.  Fourth   stage — the   amphibia.     These    earliest 
land  animals,  making  their  first  appearance  in  the  Car- 
boniferous period,  represent  the  commencement  of  the 
characteristic  structure  of  the  tetrapod  and  a  correspond- 
ing development  of  the  fish-brain:  it  advances  still 
further  in  their  Permian  successors,  the  reptiles,  the 
earliest  representatives  of  which,  the  tocosauria,  are  the 
common  ancestors  of  all  the  amniota  (reptiles  and  birds 
on  one  side,  mammals  on  the  other). 

V.-VIII.  Fifth  to  the  eighth  stages — the  mammals. 
I  have  exhaustively  treated,  and  illustrated  with  a  num- 
ber of  plates,  in  my  Anthropogeny,  the  evolution  of  our 
nervous  system  and  the  correlative  question  of  the  de- 
velopment of  the  soul.  I  have  now,  therefore,  merely 
to  refer  the  reader  to  that  work.  It  only  remains  for 
me  to  add  a  few  remarks  on  the  last  and  most  interest- 
ing class  of  facts  pertaining  to  this — to  the  evolution  of 
the  soul  and  its  organs  within  the  limits  of  the  class 

16,7 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

mammalia.  In  doing  so,  I  must  remind  the  reader 
that  the  monophyletic  origin  of  this  class — that  is,  the 
descent  of  all  the  mammals  from  one  common  ancestral 
form  (of  the  Triassic  period) — is  now  fully  established. 
The  most  important  consequence  of  the  monophy- 
letic origin  of  the  mammals  is  the  necessity  of  deriving 
the  human  soul  from  a  long  evolutionary  series  of  other 
mammal  souls.  A  deep  anatomical  and  physiological 
gulf  separated  the  brain  structure  and  the  dependent 
psychic  activity  of  the  higher  mammals  from  those  of 
the  lower:  this  gulf,  however,  is  completely  bridged 
over  by  a  long  series  of  intermediate  stages.  The  pe- 
riod of  at  least  fourteen  (more  than  a  hundred,  on  other 
estimates)  million  years,  which  has  elapsed  since  the 
commencement  of  the  Triassic  period,  is  amply  suffi- 
cient to  allow  even  the  greatest  psychological  advance. 
The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  results  of  investi- 
gation in  this  quarter,  which  has  recently  been  very 
penetrating : 

I.  The  brain  of  the  mammal  is  differentiated  from 
that  of  the  other  vertebrates  by  certain  features,  which 
are  found  in  all  branches  of  the  class ;  especially  by  a 
preponderant  development  of  the  first  and  fourth  ves- 
icles, the  cerebrum  and  cerebellum,  while  the  third  ves- 
icle, the  middle  brain,  disappears  altogether. 

II.  The  brain  development  of  the  lowest  and  earliest 
mammals  (the  monotremes,  marsupials,  and  procho- 
riates)  is  closely  allied  to  that  of  their  palaeozoic  ances- 
tors, the  Carboniferous  amphibia  (the  stegocephala)  and 
the  Permian  reptiles  (the  tocosauria). 

III.  During  the  Tertiary  period  commences  the  typ- 
ical development  of  the  cerebrum,  which  distinguishes 
the  younger  mammals  so  strikingly  from  the  older. 

IV.  The   special   development    (quantitatively   and 

1 68 


THE    PHYLOGENY    OF    THE    SOUL 

qualitatively)  of  the  cerebrum  which  is  so  prominent 
a  feature  in  man,  and  which  is  the  root  of  his  pre- 
eminent psychic  achievements,  is  only  found,  outside 
humanity,  in  a  small  section  of  the  most  highly  devel- 
oped mammals  of  the  earlier  Tertiary  epoch,  especially 
in  the  anthropoid  apes. 

V.  The  differences  of  brain  structure  and  psychic 
faculty  which  separate  man  from  the  anthropoid  ape 
are  slighter  than  the  corresponding  interval  between 
the  anthropoid  apes  and  the  lower  primates  (the  ear- 
liest simiae  and  prosimiae). 

VI.  Consequently,  the  historical,  gradual  evolution 
of  the  human  soul  from  a  long  chain  of  higher  and 
lower  mammal  souls  must,  by  application  of  the  uni- 
versally valid  phyletic  laws  of  the  theory  of  descent, 
be  regarded  as  a  fact  which  has  been  scientifically 
proved. 


CHAPTER  X 
CONSCIOUSNESS 

Consciousness  as  a  Natural  Phenomenon — Its  Definition — Diffi- 
culties of  the  Problem — Its  Relation  to  the  Life  of  the  Soul — 
Our  Human  Consciousness — Various  Theories  :  I.  Anthro- 
pistic  Theory  (Descartes) ;  II.  Neurological  Theory  (Darwin) ; 
III.  Animal  Theory  (Schopenhauer) ;  IV.  Biological  Theory 
(Fechner) ;  V.  Cellular  Theory  (Fritz  Schultze) ;  VI.  Atomistic 
Theory — Monistic  and  Dualistic  Theories — Transcendental 
Character  of  Consciousness  —  The  Ignorabimus  Verdict  of 
Du  Bois-Reymond  —  Physiology  of  Consciousness  —  Discov- 
ery of  the  Organs  of  Thought  by  Flechsig  —  Pathology — 
Double  and  Intermittent  Consciousness — Ontogeny  of  Con- 
sciousness :  Modifications  at  Different  Ages — Phylogeny  of 
Consciousness — Formation  of  Concepts 

1MO  phenomenon  of  the  life  of  the  soul  is  so  wonder- 
"•  ^  1  ul  and  so  variously  interpreted  as  consciousness. 
The  most  contradictory  views  are  current  to-day,  as  they 
were  two  thousand  years  ago,  not  only  with  regard  to 
the  nature  of  this  psychic  function  and  its  relation  to 
the  body,  but  even  as  to  its  diffusion  in  the  organic 
world  and  its  origin  and  development.  It  is  more  re- 
sponsible than  any  other  psychic  faculty  for  the  erro- 
neous idea  of  an  "  immaterial  soul "  and  the  belief  in 
"  personal  immortality  " ;  many  of  the  gravest  errors 
that  still  dominate  even  our  modern  civilization  may 
be  traced  to  it.  Hence  it  is  that  I  have  entitled  con- 
sciousness "the  central  mystery  of  psychology";  it 

170 


CONSCIOUSNESS 

is  the  strong  citadel  of  all  mystic  and  dualistic  er- 
rors, before  whose  ramparts  the  best-equipped  efforts 
of  reason  threaten  to  miscarry.  This  fact  would  suf- 
fice of  itself  to  induce  us  to  make  a  special  critical 
study  of  consciousness  from  our  monistic  point  of  view. 
We  shall  see  that  consciousness  is  simply  a  natural 
phenomenon  like  any  other  psychic  quality,  and  that 
it  is  subject  to  the  law  of  substance  like  all  other  nat-i 
ural  phenomena. 

Even  as  to  the  elementary  idea  of  consciousness,  its 
contents  and  extension,  the  views  of  the  most  distin- 
guished philosophers  and  scientists  are  widely  diver- 
gent. Perhaps  the  meaning  of  consciousness  is  best 
conceived  as  an  internal  perception,  and  compared  with 
the  action  of  a  mirror.  As  its  two  chief  departments 
we  distinguish  objective  and  subjective  consciousness 
— consciousness  of  the  world,  the  non-ego,  and  of  the 
ego.  By  far  the  greater  part  of  our  conscious  activity, 
as  Schopenhauer  justly  remarked,  belongs  to  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  outer  world,  or  the  non-ego:  this 
world-consciousness  embraces  all  possible  phenomena 
of  the  outer  world  which  are  in  any  sense  accessible  to 
our  minds.  Much  more  contracted  is  the  sphere  of 
self-consciousness,  the  internal  mirror  of  all  our  own 
psychic  activity,  all  our  presentations,  sensations,  and 
volitions. 

Many  distinguished  thinkers,  especially  on  the  phys- 
iological side  (Wundt  and  Ziehen,  for  instance)  take 
the  ideas  of  consciousness  and  psychic  function  to  be 
identical — "  all  psychic  action  is  conscious  " ;  the  prov- 
ince of  psychic  life,  they  say,  is  coextensive  with  that 
of  consciousness.  In  our  opinion,  such  a  definition 
gives  an  undue  extension  to  the  meaning  of  con- 
sciousness, and  occasions  many  errors  and  misunder- 

171 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

standings.  We  share,  rather,  the  view  of  other  phi- 
losophers (Romanes,  Fritz  Schultze,  and  Paulsen), 
that  even  our  unconscious  presentations,  sensations, 
and  volitions  pertain  to  'our  psychic  life;  indeed, 
the  province  of  these  unconscious  psychic  actions 
(reflex  action,  and  so  forth)  is  far  more  extensive 
than  that  of  consciousness.  Moreover,  the  two  prov- 
inces are  intimately  connected,  and  are  separated  by 
no  sharp  line  of  demarcation.  An  unconscious  pres- 
entation may  become  conscious  at  any  moment;  let 
our  attention  be  withdrawn  from  it  by  some  other  ob- 
ject, and  forthwith  it  disappears  from  consciousness 
once  more. 

The  only  source  of  our  knowledge  of  consciousness 
is  that  faculty  itself;  that  is  the  chief  cause  of  the 
extraordinary  difficulty  of  subjecting  it  to  scientific 
research.  Subject  and  object  are  one  and  the  same 
in  it:  the  perceptive  subject  mirrors  itself  in  its  own 
inner  nature,  which  is  to  be  the  object  of  our  inquiry. 
Thus  we  can  never  have  a  complete  objective  certainty 
of  the  consciousness  of  others;  we  can  only  proceed 
by  a  comparison  of  their  psychic  condition  with  our 
own.  As  long  as  this  comparison  is  restricted  to  nor- 
mal people  we  are  justified  in  drawing  certain  conclu- 
sions as  to  their  consciousness,  the  validity  of  which  is 
unchallenged.  But  when  we  pass  on  to  consider  ab- 
normal individuals  (the  genius,  the  eccentric,  the  stu- 
pid, or  the  insane)  our  conclusions  from  analogy  are 
either  unsafe  or  entirely  erroneous.  The  same  must 
be  said  with  even  greater  truth  when  we  attempt  to 
compare  human  consciousness  with  that  of  the  animals 
(even  the  higher,  but  especially  the  lower).  In  that 
case  such  grave  difficulties  arise  that  the  views  of  phys- 
iologists and  philosophers  diverge  as  widely  as  the 

172 


CONSCIOUSNESS 

poles  on  the  subject.     We  shall  briefly  enumerate  the 
most  important  of  these  views. 

I.  The  anthropistic  theory  of  consciousness. — It  is  pe- 
culiar to  man.  To  Descartes  we  must  trace  the  wide- 
spread notion  that  consciousness  and  thought  are  man's 
exclusive  prerogative,  and  that  he  alone  is  blessed  with 
an  "  immortal  soul/'  This  famous  French  philosopher 
and  mathematician  (educated  in  a  Jesuit  College)  es-i 
tablished  a  rigid  partition  between  the  psychic  activity 
of  man  and  that  of  the  brute.  In  his  opinion  the  hu- 
man soul,  a  thinking,  immaterial  being,  is  completely 
separated  from  the  body,  which  is  extended  and  ma- 
terial. Yet  it  is  united  to  the  body  at  a  certain  point 
in  the  brain  (the  glandula  pinealis)  for  the  purpose  of 
receiving  impressions  from  the  outer  world  and  effecting 
muscular  movements.  The  animals,  not  being  en- 
dowed with  thought,  have  no  soul :  they  are  mere  auto- 
mata, or  cleverly  constructed  machines,  whose  sensa- 
tions, presentations,  and  volitions  are  purely  mechan- 
ical, and  take  place  according  to  the  ordinary  laws  of 
physics.  Hence  Descartes  was  a  dualist  in  human 
psychology,  and  a  monist  in  the  psychology  of  the 
brute.  This  open  contradiction  in  so  clear  and  acute 
a  thinker  is  very  striking;  in  explaning  it,  it  is  not 
unnatural  to  suppose  that  he  concealed  his  real  opin- 
ion, and  left  the  discovery  of  it  to  independent  scholars. 
As  a  pupil  of  the  Jesuits,  Descartes  had  been  taught  to 
deny  the  truth  in  the  face  of  his  better  insight;  and 
perhaps  he  dreaded  the  power  and  the  fires  of  the 
Church.  Besides,  his  sceptical  principle,  that  every 
sincere  effort  to  attain  the  truth  must  start  with  a  doubt 
of  the  traditional  dogma  had  already  drawn  upon  him 
fanatical  accusations  of  scepticism  and  atheism.  The 
great  influence  which  Descartes  had  on  subsequent 

13  173 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

philosophy  was  very  remarkable,  and  entirely  in  har- 
mony with  his  "book-keeping  by  double  entry."  The 
materialists  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
appealed  to  the  Cartesian  theory  of  the  animal  soul  and 
its  purely  mechanical  activity  in  support  of  their  mon- 
istic psychology.  The  spiritualists,  on  the  other  hand, 
asserted  that  their  dogma  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul 
and  its  independence  of  the  body  was  firmly  established 
by  Descartes'  theory  of  the  human  soul.  This  view 
is  still  prevalent  in  the  camp  of  the  theologians  and 
dualistic  metaphysicians.  The  scientific  conception 
of  nature,  however,  which  has  been  built  up  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  has,  with  the  aid  of  empirical  prog- 
ress, in  physiological  and  comparative  psychology, 
completely  falsified  it. 

II.  Neurological  theory  of  consciousness. — It  is  pres- 
ent only  in  man  and  those  higher  animals  which  have 
a  centralized  nervous  system  and  organs  of  sense. 
The  conviction  that  a  large  number  of  animals — at 
least  the  higher  mammals — are  not  less  endowed  than 
man  with  a  thinking  soul  and  consciousness  prevails 
in  modern  zoology,  exact  physiology,  and  the  monistic 
psychology.  The  immense  progress  we  have  made 
in  the  various  branches  of  biology  has  contributed  to 
bring  about  a  recognition  of  this  important  truth. 
We  confine  ourselves  for  the  present  to  the  higher  ver- 
tebrates, and  especially  the  mammals.  That  these 
most  intelligent  specimens  of  these  highly  developed 
vertebrates  —  apes  and  dogs,  in  particular  —  have  a 
strong  resemblance  to  man  in  their  whole  psychic 
life  has  been  recognized  and  speculated  on  for  thou- 
sands of  years.  Their  faculty  of  presentation  and 
sensation,  of  feeling  and  desire,  is  so  like  that  of  man 
that  we  need  adduce  no  proof  of  our  thesis.  But  even 


CONSCIOUSNESS 

the  higher  associational  activity  of  the  brain,  the  for- 
mation of  judgments  and  their  connection  into  chains 
of  reasoning,  thought,  and  consciousness  in  the  nar- 
rower sense,  are  developed  in  them  after  the  same  fash- 
ion as  in  man :  they  differ  only  in  degree,  not  in  kind. 
Moreover,  we  learn  from  comparative  anatomy  and  his- 
tology that  the  intricate  structure  of  the  brain  (both  in 
general  and  in  detail)  is  substantially  the  same  in  the 
mammals  as  it  is  in  man.  The  same  lesson  is  enforced 
by  comparative  ontogeny  with  regard  to  the  origin  of 
these  psychic  organs.  Comparative  physiology  teaches 
us  that  the  various  states  of  consciousness  are  just 
the  same  in  these  highest  placentals  as  in  man;  and 
we  learn  by  experiment  that  there  is  the  same  reaction 
to  external  stimuli.  The  higher  animals  can  be  nar- 
cotized by  alcohol,  chloroform,  ether,  etc.,  and  may  be 
hypnotized  by  the  usual  methods,  just  as  in  the  case  of 
man. 

It  is,  however,  impossible  to  determine  mathemati- 
cally at  what  stage  of  animal  life  consciousness  is  to  be 
first  recognized  as  such.  Some  zoologists  draw  the  line 
very  high  in  the  scale,  others  very  low.  Darwin,  who 
most  accurately  distinguishes  the  various  stages  of 
consciousness,  intelligence,  and  emotion  in  the  higher 
animals,  and  explains  them  by  progressive  evolution, 
points  out  how  difficult,  or  even  impossible,  it  is  to  de- 
termine the  first  beginning  of  this  supreme  psychic  fac- 
ulty in  the  lower  animals.  Personally,  out  of  the  many 
contradictory  theories,  I  take  that  to  be  most  probable 
which  holds  the  centralization  of  the  nervous  system  to 
be  a  condition  of  consciousness  ;  and  that  is  wanting  in 
the  lower  classes  of  animals.  The  presence  of  a  central 
nervous  organ,  of  highly  developed  sense-organs,  and 
an  elaborate  association  of  groups  of  presentations, 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

seem  to  me  to  be  required  before  the  unity  of  conscious- 
ness is  possible. 

III.  Animal  theory  of  consciousness. — All  animals, 
arid   they   alone,    have   consciousness.     This   theory 
would  draw  a  sharp  distinction  between  the  psychic 
life  of  the  animal  and  of  the  plant.     Such  a  distinc- 
tion was  urged  by  many  of  the  older  writers,  and  was 
clearly  formulated  by  Linn6  in  his  celebrated  Sy sterna 
Naturae  ;  the  two  great  kingdoms  of  the  organic  world 
are,  in  his  opinion,  divided  by  the  fact  that  animals 
have  sensation  and  consciousness,  and  the  plants  are 
devoid  of  them.     Later  on  Schopenhauer  laid  stress  on 
the  same  distinction :  "  Consciousness  is  only  known 
to  us  as  a  feature  of  animal  nature.     Even  though  it 
extend  upwards  through  the  whole  animal  kingdom, 
even  to  man  and  his  reason,  the  unconsciousness  of  the 
plant,  from  which  it  started,  remains  as  the  basic  feat- 
ure.    In  the  lowest  animals  we  have  but  the  dawn  of 
it."   The  inaccuracy  of  this  view  was  obvious  by  about 
the  middle  of  the  present  century,  when  a  deeper  study 
was  made  of  the  psychic  activity  of  the  lower  animal 
forms,  especially  the  ccelenterates  (sponges  and  cni- 
daria) :  they  are  undoubtedly  animals,  yet  there  is  no 
more  trace  of  a  definite  consciousness  in  them  than  in 
most  of  the  plants.     The  distinction  between  the  two 
kingdoms  was  still  further  obliterated  when  more  care- 
ful research  was  made  into  their  unicellular  forms. 
There  is  no  psychological  difference  between  the  plas- 
mophagous  protozoa  and  the  plasmodomous  proto- 
phyta,  even  in  respect  of  their  consciousness. 

IV.  Biological  theory  of  consciousness. — It  is  found 
in  all  organisms,  animal  or  vegetal,  but  not  in  lifeless 
bodies  (such  as  crystals).     This  opinion  is  usually  as- 
sociated with  the  idea  that  all  organisms  (as  distin- 


CONSCIOUSNESS 

guished  from  inorganic  substances)  have  souls:  the 
three  ideas  —  life,  soul,  and  consciousness  —  are  then 
taken  to  be  coextensive.  Another  modification  of  this 
view  holds  that,  though  these  fundamental  phenomena 
of  organic  life  are  inseparably  connected,  yet  conscious- 
ness is  only  a  part  of  the  activity  of  the  soul,  and  of  the 
vital  activity.  Fechner,  in  particular,  has  endeavored 
to  prove  that  the  plant  has  a  "  soul/'  in  the  same  sense 
as  an  animal  is  said  to  have  one ;  and  many  credit  the 
vegetal  soul  with  a  consciousness  similar  to  that  of 
the  animal  soul.  In  truth,  the  remarkable  stimulated 
movements  of  the  leaves  of  the  sensitive  plants  (the  mi- 
mosa, drosera,  and  dionaea),  the  automatic  movements 
of  other  plants  (the  clover  and  wood-sorrel,  and  espe- 
cially the  hedysarum),  the  movements  of  the  "sleeping 
plants  "  (particularly  the  papilionacea) ,  etc.,  are  strik- 
ingly similar  to  the  movements  of  the  lower  animal 
forms:  whoever  ascribes  consciousness  to  the  latter 
cannot  refuse  it  to  such  vegetal  forms. 

V.  Cellular  theory  of  consciousness. — It  is  a  vital  prop- 
erty of  every  cell.  The  application  of  the  cellular  the- 
ory to  every  branch  of  biology  involved  its  extension 
to  psychology.  Just  as  we  take  the  living  cell  to  be 
the  *  elementary  organism "  in  anatomy  and  physiolo- 
gy, and  derive  the  whole  system  of  the  multicellular 
animal  or  plant  from  it,  so,  with  equal  right,  we  may 
consider  the  "cell-soul"  to  be  the  psychological  unit, 
and  the  complex  psychic  activity  of  the  higher  organism 
to  be  the  result  of  the  combination  of  the  psychic  activ- 
ity of  the  cells  which  compose  it.  I  gave  the  outlines 
of  this  cellular  psychology  in  my  General  Morphology 
in  1866,  and  entered  more  fully  into  the  subject  in  my 
paper  on  "Cell-Souls  and  Soul-Cells."  I  was  led  to  a 
deeper  study  of  this  "  elementary  psychology "  by  my 

177 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

protracted  research  into  the  unicellular  forms  of  life. 
Many  of  these  tiny  (generally  microscopic)  protists 
show  similar  expressions  of  sensation  and  will,  and 
similar  instincts  and  movements,  to  those  of  higher 
animals ;  that  is  especially  true  of  the  very  sensitive 
and  lively  infusoria.  In  the  relation  of  these  sensitive 
cell-organisms  to  their  environment,  and  in  many  other 
of  their  vital  expressions  (for  instance,  in  the  wonder- 
ful architecture  of  the  rhizopods,  the  thalamophorae, 
and  the  infusoria),  we  seemed  to  have  clear  indications 
of  conscious  psychic  action.  If,  then,  we  accept  the 
biological  theory  of  consciousness  (No.  IV.),  and  credit 
every  psychic  function  with  a  share  of  that  faculty,  we 
shall  be  compelled  to  ascribe  it  to  each  independent  pro- 
tist  cell.  In  that  case  its  material  basis  would  be  either 
the  entire  protoplasm  of  the  cell,  or  its  nucleus,  or  a  por- 
tion of  it.  In  the  "  psychade  theory  "  of  Fritz  Schultze 
the  elementary  consciousness  of  the  psychade  would 
have  the  same  relation  to  the  individual  cells  as  per- 
sonal consciousness  has  to  the  multicellular  organism 
of  the  personality  in  the  higher  animals  and  man. 
It  is  impossible  definitively  to  disprove  this  theory, 
which  I  held  at  one  time.  Still,  I  now  feel  compelled 
to  agree  with  Max  Verworn,  in  his  belief  that  none  of 
the  protists  have  a  developed  self-consciousness,  but 
that  their  sensations  and  movements  are  of  an  uncon- 
scious character. 

VI.  Atomistic  theory  of  consciousness, — It  is  an  ele- 
mentary property  of  all  atoms.  This  atomistic  hy- 
pothesis goes  furthest  of  all  the  different  views  as  to 
the  extension  of  consciousness.  It  certainly  escapes 
the  difficulty  which  so  many  philosophers  and  biolo- 
gists experience  in  solving  the  problem  of  the  first  or- 
igin of  consciousness.  It  is  a  phenomenon  of  so  pecu- 


CONSCIOUSNESS 

liar  a  character  that  a  derivation  of  it  from  other  psy- 
chic functions  seems  extremely  hazardous.  It  seemed, 
therefore,  the  easiest  way  out  of  the  difficulty  to  con- 
ceive it  as  an  inherent  property  of  all  matter,  like  gravi- 
tation or  chemical  affinity.  On  that  hypothesis  there 
would  be  as  many  forms  of  this  original  consciousness 
as  there  are  chemical  elements ;  each  atom  of  hydrogen 
would  have  its  hydrogenic  consciousness,  each  atom 
of  carbon  its  carbonic  consciousness,  and  so  forth. 
There  are  philosophers,  even,  who  ascribe  conscious- 
ness to  the  four  elements  of  Empedocles,  the  union  of 
which,  by  "love  and  hate,"  produces  the  totality  of 
things. 

Personally,  I  have  never  subscribed  to  this  hypoth- 
esis of  atomic  consciousness.  I  emphasize  the  point 
because  Emil  du  Bois-Reymond  has  attributed  it  to 
me.  In  the-»controversy  I  had  with  him  (1880)  he  vio- 
lently attacked  my  "  pernicious  and  false  philosophy," 
and  contended  that  I  had,  in  my  paper  on  "  The  Peri- 
genesis  of  the  Plastidule,"  "  laid  it  down  as  a  meta- 
physical axiom  that  every  atom  has  its  individual  con- 
sciousness." On  the  contrary,  I  explicitly  stated  that  I 
conceive  the  elementary  psychic  qualities  of  sensation 
and  will,  which  may  be  attributed  to  atoms,  to  be  un- 
conscious— just  as  unconscious  as  the  elementary  mem- 
ory which  I,  in  company  with  that  distinguished  physi- 
ologist, Ewald  Hering,  consider  to  be  "  a  common  func- 
tion of  all  organized  matter  " — or,  more  correctly,  *  liv- 
ing substance."  Du  Bois-Reymond  curiously  confuses 
"  soul "  and  "  consciousness  " ;  whether  from  oversight 
or  not  I  cannot  say.  Since  he  considers  consciousness 
to  be  a  transcendental  phenomenon  (as  we  shall  see 
presently),  while  denying  that  character  to  other  psy 
chic  functions — the  action  of  the  senses,  for  example — I 

179 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

must  infer  that  he  recognizes  the  difference  of  the  two 
ideas.  Other  parts  of  his  eloquent  speeches  contain 
quite  the  opposite  view,  for  the  famous  orator  not  in- 
frequently contradicts  himself  on  important  questions 
of  principle.  However,  I  repeat  that,  in  my  opinion, 
consciousness  is  only  part  of  the  psychic  phenomena 
which  we  find  in  man  and  the  higher  animals;  the 
great  majority  of  them  are  unconscious. 

However  divergent  are  the  different  views  as  to  the 
nature  and  origin  of  consciousness,  they  may,  never- 
theless, on  a  clear  and  logical  examination,  all  be  re- 
duced to  two  fundamental  theories — the  transcenden- 
tal (or  dualistic)  and  the  physiological  (or  monistic). 
I  have  myself  always  held  the  latter  view,  in  the  light 
of  my  evolutionary  principles,  and  it  is  now  shared  by 
a  great  number  of  distinguished  scientists,  though  it 
is  by  no  means  generally  accepted.  The  transcenden- 
tal theory  is  the  older  and  much  more  common  ;  it  has 
recently  come  once  more  into  prominence,  principally 
through  Du  Bois-Reymond,  and  it  has  acquired  a  great 
importance  in  modern  discussions  of  cosmic  problems 
through  his  famous  "Ignorabimus  speech."  On  ac- 
count of  the  extreme  importance  of  this  fundamental 
question  we  must  touch  briefly  on  its  main  features. 

In  the  celebrated  discourse  on  "  The  Limits  of  Nat- 
ural Science,"  which  E.  du  Bois-Reymond  gave  on 
August  14, 1872,  at  the  Scientific  Congress  at  Leipzig, 
he  spoke  of  two  "absolute  limits"  to  our  possible 
knowledge  of  nature  which  the  human  mind  will  never 
transcend  in  its  most  advanced  science — never,  as  the 
oft-quoted  termination  of  the  address,  "  Ignorabimus," 
emphatically  pronounces.  The  first  absolutely  in- 
soluble "world-enigma"  is  the  "connection  of  matter 
and  force,"  and  the  distinctive  character  of  these  fun- 

180 


CONSCIOUSNESS 

damental  natural  phenomena ;  we  shall  go  more  fully 
into  this"  problem  of  substance"  in  the  twelfth  chap- 
ter. The  second  insuperable  difficulty  of  philosophy  is 
given  as  the  problem  of  consciousness — the  question 
how  our  mental  activity  is  to  be  explained  by  material 
conditions,  especially  movements,  how  "  substance  [the 
substance  which  underlies  matter  and  force]  comes, 
under  certain  conditions,  to  feel,  to  desire,  and  to  think." 

For  brevity,  and  in  order  to  give  a  characteristic 
name  to  the  Leipzig  discourse,  I  have  called  it  the  "  Ig- 
norabimus  speech  " ;  this  is  the  more  permissible,  as 
E.  du  Bois-Reymond  himself,  with  a  just  pride,  eight 
years  afterwards,  speaking  of  the  extraordinary  con- 
sequences of  his  discourse,  said :  "  Criticism  sounded 
every  possible  note,  from  friendly  praise  to  the  severest 
censure,  and  the  word  '  Ignorabimus/  which  was  the 
culmination  of  my  inquiry,  was  at  once  transformed 
into  a  kind  of  scientific  shibboleth."  It  is  quite  true 
that  loud  praise  and  approbation  resounded  in  the  halls 
of  the  dualistic  and  spiritualistic  philosophy,  and  es- 
pecially in  the  camp  of  the  "  Church  militant  " ;  even 
the  spiritists  and  the  host  of  believers,  who  thought 
the  immortality  of  their  precious  souls  was  saved  by 
the  "Ignorabimus,"  joined  in  the  chorus.  The  "se- 
verest censure  "  came  at  first  only  from  a  few  scientists 
and  philosophers — from  the  few  who  had  sufficient 
scientific  knowledge  and  moral  courage  to  oppose  the 
dogmatism  of  the  all-powerful  secretary  and  dictator 
of  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Science. 

Towards  the  end,  however,  the  author  of  the  "  Igno- 
rabimus speech "  briefly  alluded  to  the  question  wheth- 
er these  two  great  "world-enigmas,"  the  general  prob- 
lem of  substance  and  the  special  problem  of  conscious- 
ness., are  not  two  aspects  of  one  and  the  same  problem. 

181 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

"  This  idea"  he  said,  "  is  certainly  the  simplest,  and 
preferable  to  the  one  which  makes  the  world  doubly 
incomprehensible.  Such,  however,  is  the  nature  of 
things  that  even  here  we  can  obtain  no  clear  knowl- 
edge, and  it  is  useless  to  speak  further  of  the  question." 
The  latter  sentiment  I  have  always  stoutly  contested, 
and  have  endeavored  to  prove  that  the  two  great  ques- 
tions are  not  two  distinct  problems.  "  The  neuro- 
logical problem  of  consciousness  is  but  a  particular 
aspect  of  the  all -pervading  cosmological  problem  of 
substance." 

The  peculiar  phenomenon  of  consciousness  is  not, 
as  Du  Bois-Reymond  and  the  dualistic  school  would 
have  us  believe,  a  completely  "  transcendental "  prob- 
lem ;  it  is,  as  I  showed  thirty-three  years  ago,  a  phys- 
iological  problem,  and,  as  such,  must  be  reduced  to 
the  phenomena  of  physics  and  chemistry.  I  subse- 
quently gave  it  the  more  definite  title  of  a  neurologi- 
cal problem,  as  I  share  the  view  that  true  conscious- 
ness (thought  and  reason)  is  only  present  in  those 
higher  animals  which  have  a  centralized  nervous  sys- 
tem and  organs  of  sense  of  a  certain  degree  of  devel- 
opment. Those  conditions  are  certainly  found  in  the 
higher  vertebrates,  especially  in  the  placental  mam- 
mals, the  class  from  which  man  has  sprung.  The 
consciousness  of  the  highest  apes,  dogs,  elephants,  etc., 
differs  from  that  of  man  in  degree  only,  not  in  kind, 
and  the  graduated  interval  between  the  consciousness 
of  these  "rational"  placentals  and  that  of  the  lowest 
races  of  men  (the  Veddahs,  etc.)  is  less  than  the  corre- 
sponding interval  between  these  uncivilized  races  and 
the  highest  specimens  of  thoughtful  humanity  (Spi- 
noza, Goethe,  Lamarck,  Darwin,  etc.).  Consciousness 
is  but  a  part  of  the  higher  activity  of  the  soul,  and  as 

182 


CONSCIOUSNESS 

such  it  is  dependent  on  the  normal  structure  of  the  cor- 
responding psychic  organ,  the  brain. 

Physiological  observation  and  experiment  determined 
twenty  years  ago  that  the  particular  portion  of  the 
mammal-brain  which  we  call  the  seat  (preferably  the 
organ)  of  consciousness  is  a  part  of  the  cerebrum,  an 
area  in  the  late-developed  gray  bed,  or  cortex,  which  is 
evolved  out  of  the  convex  dorsal  portion  of  the  primary 
cerebral  vesicle,  the  "  fore-brain."  Now,  the  morpho- 
logical proof  of  this  physiological  thesis  has  been  suc- 
cessfully given  by  the  remarkable  progress  of  the  mi- 
croscopic anatomy  of  the  brain,  which  we  owe  to  the 
perfect  methods  of  research  of  modern  science  (Kolliker, 
Flechsig,  Golgi,  Edinger,  Weigert,  and  others). 

The  most  important  development  is  the  discovery  of 
the  organs  of  thought  by  Paul  Flechsig,  of  Leipzig ;  he 
proved  that  in  the  gray  bed  of  the  brain  are  found  the 
four  seats  of  the  central  sense-organs,  or  four  "inner 
spheres  of  sensation  " — the  sphere  of  touch  in  the  ver- 
tical lobe,  the  sphere  of  smell  in  the  frontal  lobe,  the 
sphere  of  sight  in  the  occipital  lobe,  and  the  sphere  of 
hearing  in  the  temporal  lobe.  Between  these  four 
"  sense-centres  "  lie  the  four  great  "  thought-centres," 
or  centres  of  association,  the  real  organs  of  mental  life ; 
they  are  those  highest  instruments  of  psychic  activity 
that  produce  thought  and  consciousness.  In  front  we 
have  the  frontal  brain  or  centre  of  association ;  behind, 
on  top  there  is  the  vertical  brain,  or  parietal  centre  of 
association,  and  underneath  the  principal  brain,  or 
"  the  great  occipito-temporal  centre  of  association  " 
(the  most  important  of  all) ;  lower  down,  and  inter- 
nally, the  insular  brain  or  the  insula  of  Reil,  the  insular 
centre  of  association.  These  four  "  thought-centres," 
distinguished  from  the  intermediate  "  sense-centres " 

183 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

by  a  peculiar  and  elaborate  nerve-structure,  are  the 
true  and  sole  organs  of  thought  and  consciousness. 
Flechsig  has  recently  pointed  out  that,  in  the  case  of 
man,  very  specific  structures  are  found  in  one  part  of 
them ;  these  structures  are  wanting  in  the  other  mam- 
mals, and  they,  therefore,  afford  an  explanation  of  the 
superiority  of  man's  mental  powers. 

The  momentous  announcement  of  modern  physiol- 
ogy, that  the  cerebrum  is  the  organ  of  consciousness 
and  mental  action  in  man  and  the  higher  mammals, 
is  illustrated  and  confirmed  by  the  pathological  study 
of  its  diseases.  When  parts  of  the  cortex  are  destroyed 
by  disease  their  respective  functions  are  affected,  and 
thus  we  are  enabled,  to  some  extent,  to  localize  the  ac- 
tivities of  the  brain ;  when  certain  parts  of  the  area  are 
diseased,  that  portion  of  thought  and  consciousness 
disappears  which  depends  on  those  particular  sections. 
Pathological  experiment  yields  the  same  result;  the 
decay  of  some  known  area  (for  instance,  the  centre  of 
speech)  extinguishes  its  function  (speech).  In  fact, 
there  is  proof  enough  in  the  most  familiar  phenomena 
of  consciousness  of  their  complete  dependence  on  chem- 
ical changes  in  the  substance  of  the  brain.  Many  bev- 
erages (such  as  coffee  and  tea)  stimulate  our  powers  of 
thought ;  others  (such  as  wine  and  beer)  intensify  feel- 
ing; musk  and  camphor  reanimate  the  fainting  con- 
sciousness; ether  and  chloroform  deaden  it,  and  so 
forth.  How  would  that  be  possible  if  consciousness 
were  an  immaterial  entity,  independent  of  these  ana- 
tomical organs?  And  what  becomes  of  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  "  immortal  soul "  when  it  no  longer  has  the 
use  of  these  organs? 

These  and  other  familiar  facts  prove  that  man's  con- 
sciousness —  and  that  of  the  nearest  mammals  —  is 

184 


CONSCIOUSNESS 

changeable,  and  that  its  activity  is  always  open  to 
modification  from  inner  (alimentation,  circulation,  etc.) 
and  outer  causes  (lesion  of  the  brain,  stimulation,  etc.). 
Very  instructive,  too,  are  the  facts  of  double  and  in- 
termittent consciousness,  which  remind  us  of  "  alter- 
nate generations  of  presentations."  The  same  indi- 
vidual has  an  entirely  different  consciousness  on  dif- 
ferent days,  with  a  change  of  circumstances ;  he  does 
not  know  to-day  what  he  did  yesterday :  yesterday  he 
could  say,  "  I  am  I " ;  to-day  he  must  say,  "  I  am  an- 
other being."  Such  intermittence  of  consciousness 
may  last  not  only  days,  but  months,  and  even  years; 
the  change  may  even  become  permanent. 

As  everybody  knows,  the  new-born  infant  has  no 
consciousness.  Preyer  has  shown  that  it  is  only  de- 
veloped after  the  child  has  begun  to  speak ;  for  a  long 
time  it  speaks  of  itself  in  the  third  person.  In  the  im- 
portant moment  when  it  first  pronounces  the  word  "  I," 
when  the  feeling  of  self  becomes  clear,  we  have  the  be- 
ginning of  self-consciousness,  and  of  the  antithesis  to 
the  non-ego.  The  rapid  and  solid  progress  in  knowl- 
edge which  the  child  makes  in  its  first  ten  years,  under 
the  care  of  parents  and  teachers,  and  the  slower  progress 
of  the  second  decade,  until  it  reaches  complete  maturity 
of  mind,  are  intimately  connected  with  a  great  advance- 
ment in  the  growth  and  development  of  consciousness 
and  of  its  organ,  the  brain.  But  even  when  the  pupil 
has  got  his  "  certificate  of  maturity "  his  consciousness 
is  still  far  from  mature ;  it  is  then  that  his  "  world- 
consciousness  "  first  begins  to  develop,  in  his  manifold 
relations  with  the  outer  world.  Then,  in  the  third  dec- 
ade, we  have  the  full  maturity  of  rational  thought  and 
consciousness,  which,  in  cases  of  normal  development, 
yield  their  ripe  fruits  during  the  next  three  decades. 

185 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

The  slow,  gradual  degeneration  of  the  higher  mental 
powers,  which  characterizes  senility,  usually  sets  in  at 
the  commencement  of  the  seventh  decade — sometimes 
earlier,  sometimes  later.  Memory,  receptiveness,  and 
interest  in  particular  objects  gradually  decay;  though 
productivity,  mature  consciousness,  and  philosophic^ 
interest  in  general  truths  often  remain  for  many  years 
longer. 

The  individual  development  of  consciousness  in  ear- 
lier youth  proves  the  universal  validity  of  the  biogenetic 
law  ;  and,  indeed,  it  is  still  recognizable  in  many  ways 
during  the  later  years.  In  any  case,  the  ontogenesis 
of  consciousness  makes  it  perfectly  clear  that  it  is  not 
an  "  immaterial  entity,"  but  a  physiological  function 
of  the  brain,  and  that  it  is,  consequently,  no  exception 
to  the  general  law  of  substance. 

From  the  fact  that  consciousness,  like  all  other  psy- 
chic functions,  is  dependent  on  the  normal  development 
of  certain  organs,  and  that  it  gradually  unfolds  in 
the  child  in  proportion  to  the  development  of  those 
organs,  we  may  already  conclude  that  it  has  arisen 
in  the  animal  kingdom  by  a  gradual  historical  de- 
velopment. Still,  however  certain  we  are  of  the  fact 
of  this  natural  evolution  of  consciousness,  we  are,  un- 
fortunately, not  yet  in  a  position  to  enter  more  deeply 
into  the  question  and  construct  special  hypotheses  in 
elucidation  of  it.  Palaeontology,  it  is  true,  gives  us  a 
few  facts  which  are  not  without  significance.  For  in- 
stance, the  quantitative  and  qualitative  development 
of  the  brain  of  the  placental  mammals  during  the  Ter- 
tiary period  is  very  remarkable.  The  cavity  of  many 
of  the  fossil  skulls  of  the  period  has  been  carefully  ex- 
amined, and  has  given  us  a  good  deal  of  reliable  infor- 
mation as  to  the  size,  and,  to  some  extent,  as  to  the 

186 


CONSCIOUSNESS 

structure,  of  the  brain  they  enclosed.  We  find,  within 
the  limits  of  one  and  the  same  group  (the  ungulates, 
the  rodents,  or  the  primates),  a  marked  advance  in  the 
later  miocene  and  pliocene  specimens  as  compared  with 
the  earlier  eocene  and  oligocene  representatives  of  the 
same  stem;  in  the  former  the  brain  (in  proportion  to 
the  size  of  the  organism)  is  six  to  eight  times  as  large 
as  in  the  latter. 

Moreover,  that  highest  stage  of  consciousness,  which 
is  reached  by  man  alone,  has  been  evolved  step  by 
step — even  by  the  very  progress  of  civilization — from 
a  lower  condition,  as  we  find  illustrated  to-day  in  the 
case  of  uncivilized  races.  That  is  easily  proved  by  a 
comparison  of  their  languages,  which  is  closely  con- 
nected with  the  comparison  of  their  ideas.  The  higher 
the  conceptual  faculty  advances  in  thoughtful  civil- 
ized man,  the  more  qualified  he  is  to  detect  common 
features  amid  a  multitude  of  details,  and  embody  them 
in  general  concepts,  and  so  much  the  clearer  and 
deeper  does  his  consciousness  become. 


CHAPTER   XI 
THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL 

The  Citadel  of  Superstition — Athanatism  and  Thanatism — Indi- 
vidual Character  of  Death — Immortality  of  the  Unicellular 
Organisms  (Protists) — Cosmic  and  Personal  Immortality — 
Primary  Thanatism  (of  Uncivilized  Peoples)  —  Secondary 
Thanatism  (of  Ancient  and  Recent  Philosophers) — Athan- 
atism and  Religion — Origin  of  the  Belief  in  Immortality — 
Christian  Athanatism — Eternal  Life — The  Day  of  Judgment 
— Metaphysical  Athanatism — Substance  of  the  Soul — Ether 
Souls  and  Air  Souls ;  Fluid  Souls  and  Solid  Souls — Immor- 
tality of  the  Animal  Soul — Arguments  for  and  Against  Athan- 
atism — A  th  anatist  Illusions . 

\17HEN  we  turn  from  the  genetic  study  of  the  soul 
'  *  to  the  great  question  of  its  immortality,  we  come 
to  that  highest  point  of  superstition  which  is  regarded 
as  the  impregnable  citadel  of  all  mystical  and  dual- 
istic  notions.  For  in  this  crucial  question,  more  than 
in  any  other  problem,  philosophic  thought  is  compli- 
cated by  the  selfish  interest  of  the  human  personality, 
who  is  determined  to  have  a  guarantee  of  his  existence 
beyond  the  grave  at  any  price.  This  "higher  neces- 
sity of  feeling  "  is  so  powerful  that  it  sweeps  aside  all 
the  logical  arguments  of  critical  reason.  Consciously 
or  unconsciously,  most  men  are  influenced  in  all  their 
general  views,  and,  therefore,  in  their  theory  of  life,  by 
the  dogma  of  personal  immortality ;  and  to  this  theo- 
retical error  must  be  added  practical  consequences  of 

1 88 


THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL 

the  most  far-reaching  character.  It  is  our  task,  there- 
fore, to  submit  every  aspect  of  this  important  dogma  to 
a  critical  examination,  and  to  prove  its  untenability  in 
the  light  of  the  empirical  data  of  modern  biology. 

In  order  to  have  a  short  and  convenient  expression 
for  the  two  opposed  opinions  on  the  question,  we  shall 
call  the  belief  in  man's  personal  immortality  "  athan- 
atism"  (from  athanes  or  athanatos  =  immortal).  On 
the  other  hand,  we  give  the  name  of  "thanatism" 
(from  thanatos  =  death)  to  the  opinion  which  holds 
that  at  a  man's  death  not  only  all  the  other  physiologi- 
cal functions  are  arrested,  but  his  "  soul "  also  disap- 
pears— that  is,  that  sum  of  cerebral  functions  which 
psychic  dualism  regards  as  a  peculiar  entity,  inde- 
pendent of  the  other  vital  processes  in  the  living  body. 

In  approaching  this  physiological  problem  of  death 
we  must  point  out  the  individual  character  of  this  or- 
ganic phenomenon.  By  death  we  understand  simply 
the  definitive  cessation  of  the  vital  activity  of  the  indi- 
vidual organism,  no  matter  to  which  category  or  stage 
of  individuality  the  organism  in  question  belongs. 
Man  is  dead  when  his  own  personality  ceases  to  exist, 
whether  he  has  left  offspring  that  they  may  continue 
to  propagate  for  many  generations  or  not.  In  a  cer- 
tain sense  we  often  say  that  the  minds  of  great  men 
(in  a  dynasty  of  eminent  rulers,  for  instance,  or  a  fam- 
ily of  talented  artists)  live  for  many  generations ;  and 
in  the  same  way  we  speak  of  the  "soul"  of  a  noble 
woman  living  in  her  children  and  children's  children. 
But  in  these  cases  we  are  dealing  with  intricate  phe- 
nomena of  heredity,  in  which  a  microscopic  cell  (the 
sperm-cell  of  the  father  or  the  egg-cell  of  the  mother) 
transmits  certain  features  to  offspring.  The  particu- 
lar personalities  who  produce  those  sexual  cells  in  thou- 
«4  189 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

sands  are  mortal  beings,  and  at  their  death  their  per- 
sonal psychic  activity  is  extinguished  like  every  other 
physiological  function. 

A  number  of  eminent  zoologists — Weismann  being 
particularly  prominent — have  recently  defended  the 
opinion  that  only  the  lowest  unicellular  organisms, 
the  protists,  are  immortal,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
multicellular  plants  and  animals,  whose  bodies  are 
formed  of  tissues.  This  curious  theory  is  especially 
based  on  the  fact  that  most  of  the  protists  multiply 
without  sexual  means,  by  division  or  the  formation  of 
spores.  In  such  processes  the  whole  body  of  the 
unicellular  organism  breaks  up  into  two  or  more 
equal  parts  (daughter  cells),  and  each  of  these  portions 
completes  itself  by  further  growth  until  it  has  the 
size  and  form  of  the  mother  cell.  However,  by  the 
very  process  of  division  the  individuality  of  the 
unicellular  creature  has  been  destroyed ;  both  its 
physiological  and  its  morphological  unity  have  gone. 
The  view  of  Weismann  is  logically  inconsistent  with 
the  very  notion  of  individual — an  "indivisible"  en- 
tity ;  for  it  implies  a  unity  which  cannot  be  divided 
without  destroying  its  nature.  In  this  sense  the 
unicellular  protophyta  and  protozoa  are  throughout 
life  physiological  individuals,  just  as  much  as  the 
multicellular  tissue-plants  and  animals.  A  sexual 
propagation  by  simple  division  is  found  in  many  of 
the  multicellular  species  (for  instance,  in  many 
cnidaria,  corals,  medusae,  etc.);  the  mother  animal, 
the  division  of  which  gives  birth  to  the  two  daugh- 
ter animals,  ceases  to  exist  with  the  segmentation. 
"  The  protozoa,"  says  Weismann,  "  have  no  indi- 
viduals and  no  generations  in  the  matazoic  sense." 
I  must  entirely  dissent  from  his  thesis.  As  I  was 

190 


THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL 

the  first  to  introduce  the  title  of  metazoa,  and  oppose 
these  multicellular,  tissue-forming  animals  to  the  uni- 
cellular protozoa  (infusoria,  rhizopods,  etc.),  and  as 
I  was  the  first  to  point  out  the  essential  difference  in 
the  development  of  the  two  (the  former  from  germinal 
layers,  and  the  latter  not),  I  must  protest  that  I  con- 
sider the  protozoa  to  be  just  as  mortal  in  the  physio- 
logical (and  psychological)  sense  as  the  metazoa  ;  nei- 
ther body  .nor  soul  is  immortal  in  either  group.  The 
other  erroneous  consequences  of  Weismann's  notion 
have  been  refuted  by  Moebius  (1884),  who  justly  re- 
marks that  "  every  event  in  the  world  is  periodic,"  and 
that  "  there  is  no  source  from  which  immortal  organic 
individuals  might  have  sprung." 

When  we  take  the  idea  of  immortality  in  the  widest 
sense,  and  extend  it  to  the  totality  of  the  knowable  uni- 
verse, it  has  a  scientific  significance;  it  is  then  not 
merely  acceptable,  but  self  -  evident,  to  the  monistic 
philosopher.  In  that  sense  the  thesis  of  the  indestruc- 
tibility and  eternal  duration  of  all  that  exists  is  equiva- 
lent to  our  supreme  law  of  nature,  the  law  of  substance 
(see  chap.  xii.).  As  we  intend  to  discuss  this  immor- 
tality of  the  cosmos  fully  later  on,  in  establishing  the 
theory  of  the  persistence  of  matter  and  force,  we  shall 
not  dilate  on  it  at  present.  We  pass  on  immediately 
to  the  criticism  of  that  belief  in  immortality  which  is 
the  only  sense  usually  attached  to  the  word,  the  im- 
mortality of  the  individual  soul.  We  shall  first  in- 
quire into  the  extent  and  the  origin  of  this  mystic  and 
dualistic  notion,  and  point  out,  in  particular,  the  wide 
acceptance  of  the  contradictory  thesis,  our  monistic, 
empirically  established  thanatism.  I  must  distin- 
guish two  essentially  different  forms  of  thanatism — 
primary  and  secondary;  primary  thanatism  is  the 

191 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

original  absence  of  the  dogma  of  immortality  (in  the 
primitive  uncivilized  races) ;  secondary  thanatism  is 
the  later  outcome  of  a  rational  knowledge  of  nature 
in  the  civilized  intelligence. 

We  still  find  it  asserted  in  philosophic,  and  espe- 
cially in  theological,  works  that  belief  in  the  personal 
immortality  of  the  human  soul  was  originally  shared 
by  all  men — or,  at  least,  by  all  "  rational  "  men.  That 
is  not  the  case.  This  dogma  is  not  an  original  idea  of 
the  human  mind,  nor  has  it  ever  found  universal  ac- 
ceptance. It  has  been  absolutely  proved  by  modern 
comparative  ethnology  that  many  uncivilized  races  of 
the  earliest  and  most  primitive  stage  had  no  notion 
either  of  immortality  or  of  God.  That  is  true,  for  in- 
stance, of  the  Veddahs  of  Ceylon,  those  primitive  pyg- 
mies whom,  on  the  authority  of  the  able  studies  of  the 
Sarasins,  we  consider  to  be  a  relic  of  the  earliest  in- 
habitants of  India  ;*  it  is  also  the  case  in  several  of  the 
earliest  groups  of  the  nearly  related  Dravidas,  the  Ind- 
ian Seelongs,  and  some  native  Australian  races.  Sim- 
ilarly, several  of  the  primitive  branches  of  the  Ameri- 
can race,  in  the  interior  of  Brazil,  on  the  upper 
Amazon,  etc.,  have  no  knowledge  either  of  gods  or 
immortality.  This  primary  absence  of  belief  in  im- 
mortality and  deity  is  an  extremely  important  fact ;  it 
is,  obviously,  easy  to  distinguish  from  the  secondary 
absence  of  such  belief,  which  has  come  about  in  the 
highest  civilized  races  as  the  result  of  laborious  critico- 
philosophical  study. 

Differently  from  the  primary  thanatism  which  orig- 
inally characterized  primitive  man,  and  has  always 
been  widely  spread,  the  secondary  absence  of  belief 

*  E.  Haeckel,  A  Visit  to  Ceylon. 
192 


THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL 

in  immortality  is  only  found  at  a  late  stage  of  history : 
it  is  the  ripe  fruit  of  profound  reflection  on  life  and  death, 
the  outcome  of  bold  and  independent  philosophical 
speculation.  We  first  meet  it  in  some  of  the  Ionic  phi- 
losophers of  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  then  in  the  founders 
of  the  old  materialistic  philosophy,  Democritus  and 
Empedocles,  and  also  in  Simonides  and  Epicurus,  Sen- 
eca and  Plinius,  and  in  an  elaborate  form  in  Lucretius 
Carus.  With  the  spread  of  Christianity  at  the  decay 
of  classical  antiquity,  athanatism,  one  of  its  chief  ar- 
ticles of  faith,  dominated  the  world,  and  so,  amid  other 
forms  of  superstition,  the  myth  of  personal  immortal- 
ity came  to  be  invested  with  a  high  importance. 

Naturally,  through  the  long  night  of  the  Dark  Ages 
it  was  rarely  that  a  brave  free-thinker  ventured  to  ex- 
press an  opinion  to  the  contrary :  the  examples  of  Gal- 
ileo, Giordano  Bruno,  and  other  independent  philos- 
ophers, effectually  destroyed  all  freedom  of  utterance. 
Heresy  only  became  possible  when  the  Reformation 
and  the  Renaissance  had  broken  the  power  of  the  pa- 
pacy. The  history  of  modern  philosophy  tells  of  the 
manifold  methods  by  which  the  matured  mind  of  man 
sought  to  rid  itself  of  the  superstition  of  immortality. 
Still,  the  intimate  connection  of  the  belief  with  the  Chris- 
tian dogma  invested  it  with  such  power,  even  in  the 
more  emancipated  sphere  of  Protestantism,  that  the 
majority  of  convinced  free-thinkers  kept  their  senti- 
ments to  themselves.  From  time  to  time  some  dis- 
tinguished scholar  ventured  to  make  a  frank  declara- 
tion of  his  belief  in  the  impossibility  of  the  continued 
life  of  the  soul  after  death.  This  was  done  in  France 
in  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  by  Vol- 
taire, Danton,  Mirabeau,  and  others,  and  by  the  lead- 
ers of  the  materialistic  school  of  those  days,  Holbach, 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

Lamettrie,  etc.  The  same  opinion  was  defended  by  the 
able  friend  of  the  Materialists,  the  greatest  of  the  Ho- 
henzoilerns,  the  monistic  "philosopher  of  Sans-souci." 
What  would  Frederick  the  Great,  the  "  crowned  thana- 
tist  and  atheist/'  say,  could  he  compare  his  monistic 
views  with  those  of  his  successor  of  to-day  ? 

Among  thoughtful  physicians  the  conviction  that  the 
existence  of  the  soul  came  to  an  end  at  death  has  been 
common  for  centuries:  generally,  however,  they  re- 
frained from  giving  it  expression.  Moreover,  the  em- 
pirical science  of  the  brain  remained  so  imperfect  dur- 
ing the  last  century  that  the  soul  could  continue  to  be 
regarded  as  its  mysterious  inhabitant.  It  was  the 
gigantic  progress  of  biology  in  the  present  century, 
and  especially  in  the  latter  half  of  the  century,  that 
finally  destroyed  the  myth.  The  establishment  of 
the  theory  of  descent  and  the  cellular  theory,  the 
astounding  discoveries  of  ontogeny  and  experimental 
physiology — above  all,  the  marvellous  progress  of  the 
microscopic  anatomy  of  the  brain,  gradually  deprived 
athanativSm  of  every  basis;  now,  indeed,  it  is  rarely 
that  an  informed  and  honorable  biologist  is  found  to 
defend  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  All  the  monistic 
philosophers  of  the  century  (Strauss,  Feuerbach,  Buch- 
ner,  Spencer,  etc.)  are  thanatists. 
i  The  dogma  of  personal  immortality  owes  its  great 
popularity  and  its  high  importance  to  its  intimate  con- 
nection with  the  teaching  of  Christianity.  This  cir- 
cumstance gave  rise  to  the  erroneous  and  still  preva- 
lent belief  that  the  myth  is  a  fundamental  element 
of  all  the  higher  religions.  That  is  by  no  means 
the  case.  The  higher  Oriental  religions  include  no 
belief  whatever  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul;  it  is 
not  found  in  Buddhism,  the  religion  that  dominates 

194 


THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL 

thirty  per  cent,  of  the  entire  human  race;  it  is  not 
found  in  the  ancient  popular  religion  of  the  Chinese, 
nor  in  the  reformed  religion  of  Confucius  which  suc- 
ceeded it;  and,  what  is  still  more  significant,  it  is 
not  found  in  the  earlier  and  purer  religion  of  the 
Jews.  Neither  in  the  "  five  Mosaic  books/'  nor  in 
any  of  the  writings  of  the  Old  Testament  which  were 
written  before  the  Babylonian  Exile,  is  there  any 
trace  of  the  notion  of  individual  persistence  after 
death. 

The  mystic  notion  that  the  human  soul  will  live  for- 
ever after  death  has  had  a  polyphyletic  origin.  It  was 
unknown  to  the  earliest  speaking  man  (the  hypotheti- 
cal homo  primigenius  of  Asia),  to  his  predecessors,  of 
course,  the  pithecanthropus  and  prothylobates,  and  to 
the  least  developed  of  his  modern  successors,  the  Ved- 
dahs  of  Ceylon,  the  Seelongs  of  India,  and  other  dis- 
tant races.  With  the  development  of  reason  and  deep- 
er reflection  on  life  and  death,  sleep  and  dreams,  mystic 
ideas  of  a  dualistic  composition  of  our  nature  were 
evolved — independently  of  each  other — in  a  number  of 
the  earlier  races.  Very  different  influences  were  at 
work  in  these  polyphyletic  creations — worship  of  ances- 
tors, love  of  relatives,  love  of  life  and  desire  of  its  pro- 
longation, hope  of  better  conditions  of  life  beyond  the 
grave,  hope  of  the  reward  of  good  and  punishment 
of  evil  deeds,  and  so  forth.  Comparative  psychology 
has  recently  brought  to  our  knowledge  a  great  variety 
of  myths  and  legends  of  that  character;  they  are,  for 
the  most  part,  closely  associated  with  the  oldest  forms 
of  theistic  and  religious  belief.  In  most  of  the  modern 
religions  athanatism  is  intimately  connected  with  the- 
ism ;  the  majority  of  believers  transfer  their  material- 
istic idea  of  a  "  personal  God"  to  their  "  immortal  soul," 

'95 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

That  is  particularly  true  of  the  dominant  religion  of 
modern  civilized  states,  Christianity. 

As  everybody  knows,  the  dogma  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  has  long  since  assumed  in  the  Christian 
religion  that  rigid  form  which  it  has  in  the  articles  of 
faith :  "  I  believe  in  the  resurrection  of  the  body  and 
in  an  eternal  life."  Man  will  arise  on  "  the  last  day," 
as  Christ  is  alleged  to  have  done  on  Easter  morn,  and 
receive  a  reward  according  to  the  tenor  of  his  earthly 
life.  This  typically  Christian  idea  is  thoroughly  ma- 
terialistic and  anthropomorphic ;  it  is  very  little  supe- 
rior to  the  corresponding  crude  legends  of  uncivilized 
peoples.  The  impossibility  of  "  the  resurrection  of  the 
body  "  is  clear  to  every  man  who  has  some  knowledge 
of  anatomy  and  physiology.  The  resurrection  of  Christ, 
which  is  celebrated  every  Easter  by  millions  of  Chris- 
tians, is  as  purely  mythical  as  "  the  awakening  of  the 
dead,"  which  he  is  alleged  to  have  taught.  These  mystic 
articles  of  faith  are  just  as  untenable  in  the  light  of 
pure  reason  as  the  cognate  hypothesis  of  "  eternal  life." 

The  fantastic  notions  which  the  Christian  Church 
disseminates  as  to  the  eternal  life  of  the  immortal  soul 
after  the  dissolution  of  the  body  are  just  as  material- 
istic as  the  dogma  of  "the  resurrection  of  the  body." 
In  his  interesting  work  on  Religion  in  the  Light  of  the 
Darwinian  Theory,  Savage  justly  remarks :  "  It  is  one 
of  the  standing  charges  of  the  Church  against  science 
that  it  is  materialistic.  I  must  say,  in  passing,  that 
the  whole  ecclesiastical  dortrine  of  a  future  life  has  al- 
ways been,  and  still  is,  materialism  of  the  purest  type. 
It  teaches  that  the  material  body  shall  rise,  and  dwell 
in  a  material  heaven."  To  prove  this  one  has  only  to 
read  impartially  some  of  the  sermons  and  ornate  dis- 
courses in  which  the  glory  of  the  future  life  is  extolled 

196 


THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL 

as  the  highest  good  of  the  Christian,  and  belief  in  it  is 
laid  down  to  be  the  foundation  of  morality.  According 
to  them,  all  the  joys  of  the  most  advanced  modern  civ- 
ilization await  the  pious  believer  in  Paradise,  while 
the  "All-loving  Father  "  reserves  his  eternal  fires  for 
the  godless  materialist. 

In  opposition  to  the  materialist  athanatism,  which  is 
dominant  in  the  Christian  and  Mohammedan  Churches, 
we  have,  apparently,  a  purer  and  higher  form  of  faith 
in  the  metaphysical  athanatism,  as  taught  by  most  of 
our  dualist  and  spiritualist  philosophers.  Plato  must 
be  considered  its  chief  creator:  in  the  fourth  century 
before  Christ  he  taught  that  complete  dualism  of  body 
and  soul  which  afterwards  became  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant, theoretically,  and  one  of  the  most  influential, 
practically,  of  the  Christian  articles  of  faith.  The  body 
is  mortal,  material,  physical;  the  soul  is  immortal, 
immaterial,  metaphysical.  They  are  only  temporarily 
associated,  for  the  course  of  the  individual  life.  As 
Plato  postulated  an  eternal  life  before  as  well  as  after 
this  temporary  association,  he  must  be  classed  as  an 
adherent  of  "  metempsychosis/'  or  transmigration  of 
souls ;  the  soul  existed  as  such,  or  as  an  "  eternal  idea," 
before  it  entered  into  a  human  body.  When  it  quits 
one  body  it  seeks  such  other  as  is  most  suited  to  its 
character  for  its  habitation.  The  souls  of  bloody  ty- 
rants pass  into  the  bodies  of  wolves  and  vultures,  those 
of  virtuous  toilers  migrate  into  the  bodies  of  bees  and 
ants,  and  so  forth.  The  childish  naivety  of  this  Pla- 
tonic morality  is  obvious;  on  closer  examination  his 
views  are  found  to  be  absolutely  incompatible  with  the 
scientific  truth  which  we  owe  to  modern  anatomy, 
physiology,  histology,  and  ontogeny;  we  mention 
them  only  because,  in  spite  of  their  absurdity,  they 

197 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

have  had  a  profound  influence  on  thought  and  culture. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  mysticism  of  the  Neo-Platonists, 
which  penetrated  into  Christianity,  attaches  itself  to 
the  psychology  of  Plato ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  became 
subsequently  one  of  the  chief  supports  of  spiritualistic 
and  idealistic  philosophy.  The  Platonic  "  idea "  gave 
way  in  time  to  the  notion  of  psychic  "  substance";  this 
is  just  as  incomprehensible  and  metaphysical,  though 
it  often  assumed  a  physical  appearance. 

The  conception  of  the  soul  as  a  "  substance"  is  far 
from  clear  in  many  psychologists;  sometimes  it  is  re- 
garded as  an  "  immaterial "  entity  of  a  peculiar  charac- 
ter in  an  abstract  and  idealistic  sense,  sometimes  in  a 
concrete  and  realistic  sense,  and  sometimes  as  a  con- 
fused tertium  quid  between  the  two.  If  we  adhere  to 
the  monistic  idea  of  substance,  which  we  develop  in 
chap,  xii.,  and  which  takes  it  to  be  the  simplest  element 
of  our  whole  world-system,  we  find  energy  and  matter 
inseparably  associated  in  it.  We  must,  therefore,  dis- 
tinguish in  the  "  substance  of  the  soul "  the  character- 
istic psychic  energy  which  is  all  we  perceive  (sensation, 
presentation,  volition,  etc.),  and  the  psychic  matter, 
which  is  the  inseparable  basis  of  its  activity — that  is, 
the  living  protoplasm.  Thus,  in  the  higher  animals 
the  "  matter  "  of  the  soul  is  a  part  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem ;  in  the  lower  nerveless  animals  and  plants  it  is  a 
part  of  their  multicellular  protoplasmic  body;  and  in 
the  unicellular  protists  it  is  a  part  of  their  protoplasmic 
cell-body.  In  this  way  we  are  brought  once  more  to 
the  psychic  organs,  and  to  an  appreciation  of  the  fact 
that  these  material  organs  are  indispensable  for  the 
action  of  the  soul;  but  the  soul  itself  is  actual — it  is 
the  sum-total  of  their  physiological  functions. 

However,  the  idea  of  a  specific  "  soul  -  substance " 
198 


THE    IMMORTALITY   OF    THE    SOUL 

found  in  the  dualistic  philosophers  who  admit  such 
a  thing  is  very  different  from  this.  They  conceive 
the  immortal  soul  to  be  material,  yet  invisible,  and 
essentially  different  from  the  visible  body  which  it 
inhabits. 

Thus  invisibility  comes  to  be  regarded  as  a  most  im- 
portant attribute  of  the  soul.  Some,  in  fact,  compare 
the  soul  with  ether,  and  regard  it,  like  ether,  as  an  ex- 
tremely subtle,  light,  and  highly  elastic  material,  an 
imponderable  agency,  that  fills  the  intervals  between 
the  ponderable  particles  of  the  living  organism,  others 
compare  the  soul  with  the  wind,  and  so  give  it  a  gas- 
eous nature;  and  it  is  this  simile  which  first  found 
favor  with  primitive  peoples,  and  led  in  time  to  the  fa- 
miliar dualistic  conception.  When  a  man  died,  the 
body  remained  as  a  lifeless  corpse,  but  the  immortal 
soul  "  flew  out  of  it  with  the  last  breath." 

The  comparison  of  the  human  soul  with  physical 
ether  as  a  qualitatively  similar  idea  has  assumed  a 
more  concrete  shape  in  recent  times  through  the  great 
progress  of  optics  and  electricity  (especially  in  the  last 
decade) ;  for  these  sciences  have  taught  us  a  good  deal 
about  the  energy  of  ether,  and  enabled  us  to  formulate 
certain  conclusions  as  to  the  material  character  of  this 
all-pervading  agency.  As  I  intend  to  describe  these 
important  discoveries  later  on  (in  chap,  xii.),  I  shall  do 
no  more  at  present  than  briefly  point  out  that  they  ren- 
der the  notion  of  an  *  etheric  soul  "  absolutely  untena- 
ble. Such  an  etheric  soul  —  that  is  a  psychic  sub- 
stance— which  is  similar  to  physical  ether,  and  which, 
like  ether,  passes  between  the  ponderable  elements  of 
the  living  protoplasm  or  the  molecules  of  the  brain, 
cannot  possibly  account  for  the  individual  life  of  the 
soul.  Neither  the  mystic  notions  of  that  kind  which 

199 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

were  warmly  discussed  about  the  middle  of  the  century, 
nor  the  attempts  of  modern  "  Neovitalists"  to  put  theii 
mystical  "  vital  force  "  on  a  line  with  physical  ether, 
call  for  refutation  any  longer. 

Much  more  widespread,  and  still  much  respected,  is 
the  view  which  ascribes  a  gaseous  nature  to  the  sub- 
stance of  the  soul.  The  comparison  of  human  breath 
with  the  wind  is  a  very  old  one;  they  were  originally 
considered  to  be  identical,  and  were  both  given  the 
same  name.  The  anemos  and  psyche  of  the  Greeks, 
and  the  anima  and  spiritus  of  the  Romans,  were  origi- 
nally all  names  for  "  a  breath  of  wind  " ;  they  were  trans- 
ferred from  this  to  the  breath  of  man.  After  a  time 
this  "  living  breath  "  was  identified  with  the  "  vital 
force,"  and  finally  it  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  soul 
itself,  or,  in  a  narrower  sense,  as  its  highest  manifes- 
tation, the  "  spirit."  From  that  the  imagination  went 
on  to  derive  the  mystic  notion  of  individual  "  spirits"; 
these,  also,  are  still  usually  conceived  as  "aeriform 
beings  " — though  they  are  credited  with  the  physio- 
logical functions  of  an  organism,  and  they  have  been 
photographed  in  certain  well-known  spiritist  circles. 

Experimental  physics  has  succeeded,  during  the 
last  decade  of  the  century,  in  reducing  all  gaseous 
bodies  to  a  liquid — most  of  them,  also,  to  a  solid — con- 
dition. Nothing  more  is  needed  than  special  appara- 
tus, which  exerts  a  violent  pressure  on  the  gases  at  a 
very  low  temperature.  By  this  process  not  only  the 
atmospheric  elements,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  and  nitro- 
gen, but  even  compound  gases  (such  as  carbonic-acid 
gas)  and  gaseous  aggregates  (like  the  atmosphere) 
have  been  changed  from  gaseous  to  liquid  form.  In 
this  way  the  "  invisible  "  substances  have  become  "  vis- 
ible "  to  all,  and  in  a  certain  sense  "  tangible."  With 

200 


THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL 

this  transformation  the  mystic  nimbus  which  formerly 
veiled  the  character  of  the  gas  in  popular  estimation — 
as  an  invisible  body  that  wrought  visible  effects — has 
entirely  disappeared.  If,  then,  the  substance  of  the 
soul  were  really  gaseous,  it  should  be  possible  to  liquefy 
it  by  the  application  of  a  high  pressure  at  a  low  tem- 
perature. We  could  then  catch  the  soul  as  it  is  "  breathed 
out  "  at  the  moment  of  death,  condense  it,  and  exhibit 
it  in  a  bottle  as  "immortal  fluid "  (Fluidum  animae 
immortale).  By  a  further  lowering  of  temperature 
and  increase  of  pressure  it  might  be  possible  to  solidify 
it — to  produce  "  soul-snow. "  The  experiment  has  not 
yet  succeeded. 

If  athanatism  were  true,  if,  indeed,  the  human  soul 
were  to  live  for  all  eternity,  we  should  have  to  grant 
the  same  privilege  to  the  souls  of  the  higher  animals, 
at  least  to  those  of  the  nearest  related  mammals  (apes, 
dogs,  etc.).  For  man  is  not  distinguished  from  them 
by  a  special  kind  of  soul,  or  by  any  peculiar  and  ex- 
clusive psychic  function,  but  only  by  a  higher  de- 
gree of  psychic  activity,  a  superior  stage  of  develop- 
ment. In  particular,  consciousness — the  function  of 
the  association  of  ideas,  thought,  and  reason — has 
reached  a  higher  level  in  many  men  (by  no  means  in 
all)  than  in  most  of  the  animals.  Yet  this  difference 
is  far  from  being  so  great  as  is  popularly  supposed; 
and  it  is  much  slighter  in  every  respect  than  the  cor- 
responding difference  between  the  higher  and  the  low- 
er animal  souls,  or  even  the  difference  between  the 
highest  and  the  lowest  stages  of  the  human  soul  itself. 
If  we  ascribe  "  personal  immortality  "  to  man,  we  are 
bound  to  grant  it  also  to  the  higher  animals. 

It  is,  therefore,  quite  natural  that  we  should  find 
this  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  animal  soul  among 

201 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

many  ancient  and  modern  peoples ;  we  even  meet  it 
sometimes  to-day  in  many  thoughtful  men  who  pos- 
tulate an  "  immortal  life  "  for  themselves,  and  have, 
at  the  same  time,  a  thorough  empirical  knowledge  of 
the  psychic  life  of  the  animals.  I  once  knew  an  old 
head-forester,  who,  being  left  a  widower  and  without 
children  at  an  early  age,  had  lived  alone  for  more  than 
thirty  years  in  a  noble  forest  of  East  Prussia.  His 
only  companions  were  one  or  two  servants,  with  whom 
he  exchanged  merely  a  few  necessary  words,  and  a 
great  pack  of  different  kinds  of  dogs,  with  which  he 
lived  in  perfect  psychic  communion.  Through  many 
years  of  training  this  keen  observer  and  friend  of  nat- 
ure had  penetrated  deep  into  the  individual  souls  of 
his  dogs,  and  he  was  as  convinced  of  their  personal 
immortality  as  he  was  of  his  own.  Some  of  his  most 
intelligent  dogs  were,  in  his  impartial  and  objective 
estimation,  at  a  higher  stage  of  psychic  development 
than  his  old,  stupid  maid  and  the  rough,  wrinkled  man- 
servant. Any  unprejudiced  observer,  who  will  study 
the  conscious  and  intelligent  psychic  activity  of  a  fine 
dog  for  a  year,  and  follow  attentively  the  physiological 
processes  of  its  thought,  judgment,  and  reason,  will 
have  to  admit  that  it  has  just  as  valid  a  claim  to  im- 
mortality as  man  himself. 

The  proofs  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  which  have 
been  adduced  for  the  last  two  thousand  years,  and  are, 
indeed,  still  credited  with  some  validity,  have  their  or- 
igin, for  the  most  part,  not  in  an  effort  to  discover  the 
truth,  but  in  an  alleged  "necessity  of  emotion " — that 
is,  in  imagination  and  poetic  conceit.  As  Kant  puts 
it,  the  immortality  of  the  soul  is  not  an  object  of  pure 
reason,  but  a  "  postulate  of  practical  reason.*  But  we 
must  set  "  practical  reason  n  entirely  aside,  together 

202 


THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE    SOUL 

with  all  the  "  exigencies  of  emotion,  or  of  moral  educa- 
tion, etc.,"  when  we  enter  upon  an  honest  and  impar- 
tial pursuit  of  truth ;  for  we  shall  only  attain  it  by  the 
work  of  pure  reason,  starting  from  empirical  data  and 
capable  of  logical  analysis.  We  have  to  say  the  same 
of  athanatism  as  of  theism;  both  are  creations  of 
poetic  mysticism  and  of  transcendental  "  faith/'  not  of 
rational  science. 

When  we  come  to  analyze  all  the  different  proofs  that 
have  been  urged  for  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  we  find 
that  not  a  single  one  of  them  is  of  a  scientific  character ; 
not  a  single  one  is  consistent  with  the  truths  we  have 
learned  in  the  last  few  decades  from  physiological  psy- 
chology and  the  theory  of  descent.  The  theological 
proof — that  a  personal  creator  has  breathed  an  immor- 
tal soul  (generally  regarded  as  a  portion  of  the  divine 
soul)  into  man — is  a  pure  myth.  The  cosmological 
proof — that  the  "  moral  order  of  the  world  "  demands 
the  eternal  duration  of  the  human  soul — is  a  baseless 
dogma.  The  ideological  proof — that  the  "  higher  des- 
tiny "  of  man  involves  the  perfecting  of  his  defective, 
earthly  soul  beyond  the  grave — rests  on  a  false  an- 
thropism.  The  moral  proof — that  the  defects  and  the 
unsatisfied  desires  of  earthly  existence  must  be  fulfilled 
by  "  compensative  justice  "  on  the  other  side  of  eternity 
—is  nothing  more  than  a  pious  wish.  The  ethnological 
proof — that  the  belief  in  immortality,  like  the  belief  in 
God,  is  an  innate  truth,  common  to  all  humanity — is 
an  error  in  fact.  The  ontological  proof — that  the  soul, 
being  a  "  simple,  immaterial,  and  indivisible  entity," 
cannot  be  involved  in  the  corruption  of  death — is  based 
on  an  entirely  erroneous  view  of  the  psychic  phenom- 
ena; it  is  a  spiritualistic  fallacy.  All  these  and  sim- 
ilar "  proofs  of  athanatism  "  are  in  a  parlous  condition ; 

203 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

they  are  definitely  annulled  by  the  scientific  criticism 
of  the  last  few  decades. 

The  extreme  importance  of  the  subject  leads  us  to 
oppose  to  these  untenable  "  proofs  of  immortality  "  a 
brief  exposition  of  the  sound  scientific  arguments 
against  it.  The  physiological  argument  shows  that 
the  human  soul  is  not  an  independent,  immaterial 
substance,  but,  like  the  soul  of  all  the  higher  animals, 
merely  a  collective  title  for  the  sum-total  of  man's  cere- 
bral functions ;  and  these  are  just  as  much  determined 
by  physical  and  chemical  processes  as  any  of  the  other 
vital  functions,  and  just  as  amenable  to  the  law  of  sub- 
stance. The  histological  argument  is  based  on  the  ex- 
tremely complicated  microscopic  structure  of  the  brain ; 
it  shows  us  the  true  "  elementary  organs  of  the  soul " 
in  the  ganglionic  cells.  The  experimental  argument 
proves  that  the  various  functions  of  the  soul  are  bound 
up  with  certain  special  parts  of  the  brain,  and  cannot 
be  exercised  unless  these  are  in  a  normal  condition; 
if  the  areas  are  destroyed,  their  function  is  extin- 
guished; and  this  is  especially  applicable  to  the  "or- 
gans of  thought,"  the  four  central  instruments  of  men- 
tal activity.  The  pathological  argument  is  the  com- 
plement of  the  physiological ;  when  certain  parts  of  the 
brain  (the  centres  of  speech,  sight,  hearing,  etc.)  are 
destroyed  by  sickness,  their  activity  (speech,  vision, 
hearing,  etc.)  disappears;  in  this  way  nature  herself 
makes  the  decisive  physiological  experiment.  The 
ontogenetic  argument  puts  before  us  the  facts  of  the 
development  of  the  soul  in  the  individual ;  we  see  how 
the  child-soul  gradually  unfolds  its  various  powers; 
the  youth  presents  them  in  full  bloom,  the  mature  man 
shows  their  ripe  fruit;  in  old  age  we  see  the  gradual 
decay  of  the  psychic  powers,  corresponding  to  the  senile 

204 


THE    IMMORTALITY    OF   THE    SOUL 

degeneration  of  the  brain.  The  phylogenetic  argument 
derives  its  strength  from  palaeontology,  and  the  com- 
parative anatomy  and  physiology  of  the  brain;  co- 
operating with  and  completing  each  other,  these  sciences 
prove  to  the  hilt  that  the  human  brain  (and,  conse- 
quently, its  function — the  soul)  has  been  evolved  step 
by  step  from  that  of  the  mammal,  and,  still  further 
back,  from  that  of  the  lower  vertebrate. 

These  inquiries,  which  might  be  supplemented  by 
many  other  results  of  modern  science,  prove  the  old 
dogma  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  to  be  absolutely 
untenable;  in  the  twentieth  century  it  will  not  be  re- 
garded as  a  subject  of  serious  scientific  research,  but 
will  be  left  wholly  to  transcendental  "faith."  The 
"critique  of  pure  reason"  shows  this  treasured  faith 
to  be  a  mere  superstition,  like  the  belief  in  a  personal 
God  which  generally  accompanies  it.  Yet  even  to- 
day millions  of  "  believers  " — not  only  of  the  lower, 
uneducated  masses,  but  even  of  the  most  cultured 
classes — look  on  this  superstition  as  their  dearest  pos- 
session and  their  most  "priceless  treasure."  It  is, 
therefore,  necessary  to  enter  more  deeply  into  the  sub- 
ject, and — assuming  it  to  be  true — to  make  a  critical 
inquiry  into  its  practical  value.  It  soon  becomes  ap- 
parent to  the  impartial  critic  that  this  value  rests,  for 
the  most  part,  on  fancy,  on  the  want  of  clear  judgment 
and  consecutive  thought.  It  is  my  firm  and  honest 
conviction  that  a  definitive  abandonment  of  these 
"athanatist  illusions"  would  involve  no  painful  loss, 
but  an  inestimable  positive  gain  for  humanity. 

Man's  "emotional  craving"  clings  to  the  belief  on 
immortality  for  two  main  reasons :  firstly,  in  the  hope 
of  better  conditions  of  life  beyond  the  grave ;  and,  sec- 
ondly, in  the  hope  of  seeing  once  more  the  dear  and 
is  205 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

loved  ones  whom  death  has  torn  from  us.  As  for  the 
first  hope,  it  corresponds  to  a  natural  feeling  of  the 
justice  of  compensation,  which  is  quite  correct  subjec- 
tively, but  has  no  objective  validity  whatever.  We 
make  our  claim  for  an  indemnity  for  the  unnumbered 
defects  and  sorrows  of  our  earthly  existence,  without 
the  slightest  real  prospect  or  guarantee  of  receiving  it. 
We  long  for  an  eternal  life  in  which  we  shall  meet  no 
sadness  and  no  pain,  but  an  unbounded  peace  and  joy. 
The  pictures  that  most  men  form  of  this  blissful  exist- 
ence are  extremely  curious;  the  immaterial  soul  is 
placed  in  the  midst  of  grossly  material  pleasures.  The 
imagination  of  each  believer  paints  the  enduring  splen- 
dor according  to  his  personal  taste,  The  American  Ind- 
ian, whose  athanatism  Schiller  has  so  well  depicted, 
trusts  to  find  in  his  Paradise  the  finest  hunting-grounds 
with  innumerable  hordes  of  buffaloes  and  bears;  the 
Eskimo  looks  forward  to  sun-tipped  icebergs  with  an 
inexhaustible  supply  of  bears,  seals,  and  other  polar 
animals;  the  effeminate  Cingalese  frames  his  Para- 
dise on  the  wonderful  island-paradise  of  Ceylon  with 
its  noble  gardens  and  forests — adding  that  there  will 
be  unlimited  supplies  of  rice  and  curry,  of  cocoanuts 
and  other  fruit,  always  at  hand;  the  Mohammedan 
Arab  believes  it  will  be  a  place  of  shady  gardens  of 
flowers,  watered  by  cool  springs,  and  filled  with  lovely 
maidens;  the  Catholic  fisherman  of  Sicily  looks  for- 
ward to  a  daily  superabundance  of  the  most  valuable 
fishes  and  the  finest  macaroni,  and  eternal  absolution 
for  all  his  sins,  which  he  can  go  on  committing  in  his 
eternal  home;  the  evangelical  of  North  Europe  longs 
for  an  immense  Gothic  cathedral,  in  which  he  can  chant 
the  praises  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts  for  all  eternity.  In  a 
word,  each  believer  really  expects  his  eternal  life  to  be 

206 


THE   IMMORTALITY   OF   THE    SOUL 

a  direct  continuation  of  his  individual  life  on  earth, 
only  in  a  "  much  improved  and  enlarged  edition." 

We  must  lay  special  stress  on  the  thoroughly  mate- 
rialistic character  of  Christian  athanatism,  which  is 
closely  connected  with  the  absurd  dogma  of  the  "  resur- 
rection of  the  body."  As  thousands  of  paintings  of 
famous  masters  inform  us,  the  bodies  that  have  risen 
again,  with  the  souls  that  have  been  born  again,  walk 
about  in  heaven  just  as  they  did  in  this  vale  of  tears  ; 
they  see  God  with  their  eyes,  they  hear  His  voice  with 
their  ears,  they  sing  hymns  to  His  praise  with  their 
larynx,  and  so  forth.  In  fine,  the  modern  inhabitants 
of  the  Christian  Paradise  have  the  same  dual  character 
of  body  and  soul,  the  same  organs  of  an  earthly  body, 
as  our  ancient  ancestors  had  in  Odin's  Hall  in  Wal- 
halla,  as  the  "immortal"  Turks  and  Arabs  have  in 
Mohammed's  lovely  gardens,  as  the  old  Greek  demi- 
gods and  heroes  had  in  the  enjoyment  of  nectar  and 
ambrosia  at  the  table  of  Zeus. 

But,  however  gloriously  we  may  depict  this  eternal 
life  in  Paradise,  it  remains  endless  in  duration.  Do 
we  realize  what  "  eternity  "  means? — the  uninterrupted 
continuance  of  our  individual  life  forever!  The  pro- 
found legend  of  the  "wandering  Jew,"  the  fruitless 
search  for  rest  of  the  unhappy  Ahasuerus,  should  teach 
us  to  appreciate  such  an  "  eternal  life  "  at  its  true  value. 
The  best  we  can  desire  after  a  courageous  life,  spent  in 
doing  good  according  to  our  light,  is  the  eternal  peace 
of  the  grave.  "  Lord,  give  them  an  eternal  rest." 

Any  impartial  scholar  who  is  acquainted  with  geo- 
logical calculations  of  time,  and  has  reflected  on  the 
long  series  of  millions  of  years  the  organic  history  of 
the  earth  has  occupied,  must  admit  that  the  crude  no- 
tion of  an  eternal  life  is  not  a  comfort,  but  a  fearful 

207 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

menace,  to  the  best  of  men.  Only  want  of  clear  judg- 
ment and  consecutive  thought  can  dispute  it. 

The  best  and  most  plausible  ground  for  athanatism 
is  found  in  the  hope  that  immortality  will  reunite  us 
to  the  beloved  friends  who  have  been  prematurely  taken 
from  us  by  some  grim  mischance.  But  even  this  sup- 
posed good  fortune  proves  to  be  an  illusion  on  closer 
inquiry;  and  in  any  case  it  would  be  greatly  marred 
by  the  prospect  of  meeting  the  less  agreeable  acquaint- 
ances and  the  enemies  who  have  troubled  our  existence 
here  below.  Even  the  closest  family  ties  would  in- 
volve many  a  difficulty.  There  are  plenty  of  men  who 
would  gladly  sacrifice  all  the  glories  of  Paradise  if  it 
meant  the  eternal  companionship  of  their  "  better  half  * 
and  their  mother-in-law.  It  is  more  than  questionable 
whether  Henry  VIII.  would  like  the  prospect  of  living 
eternally  with  his  six  wives;  or  Augustus  the  Strong 
of  Poland,  who  had  a  hundred  mistresses  and  three 
hundred  and  fifty-two  children.  As  he  was  on  good 
terms  with  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  he  must  be  assumed  to 
be  in  Paradise,  in  spite  of  his  sins,  and  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  his  mad  military  ventures  cost  the  lives  of 
more  than  a  hundred  thousand  Saxons. 

Another  insoluble  difficulty  faces  the  athanatist 
when  he  asks  in  what  stage  of  their  individual  develop- 
ment the  disembodied  souls  will  spend  their  eternal 
life.  Will  the  new-born  infant  develop  its  psychic 
powers  in  heaven  under  the  same  hard  conditions  of 
the  "  struggle  for  life  "  which  educate  man  here  on 
earth?  Will  the  talented  youth  who  has  fallen  in  the 
wholesale  murder  of  war  unfold  his  rich,  unused  men- 
tal powers  in  Walhalla?  Will  the  feeble,  childish  old 
man,  who  has  filled  the  world  with  the  fame  of  his 
deeds  in  the  ripeness  of  his  age,  live  forever  in  mental 

208 


THE    IMMORTALITY    OF    THE   SOUL 

decay?  Or  will  he  return  to  an  earlier  stage  of  devel- 
opment? If  the  immortal  souls  in  Olympus  are  to  live 
in  a  condition  of  rejuvenescence  and  perfectness,  then 
both  the  stimulus  to  the  formation  of,  and  the  interest 
in,  personality  disappear  for  them. 

Not  less  impossible,  in  the  light  of  pure  reason,  do 
we  find  the  anthropistic  myth  of  the  "  last  judgment,* 
and  the  separation  of  the  souls  of  men  into  two  great 
groups,  of  which  one  is  destined  for  the  eternal  joys  of 
Paradise  and  the  other  for  the  eternal  torments  of  hell 
— and  that  from  a  personal  God  who  is  called  the 
*  Father  of  Love  " !  And  it  is  this  "  Universal  Father  " 
who  has  himself  created  the  conditions  of  heredity  and 
adaptation,  in  virtue  of  which  the  elect,  on  the  one 
side,  were  bound  to  pursue  the  path  towards  eternal 
bliss,  and  the  luckless  poor  and  miserable,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  driven  into  the  paths  of  the  damned? 

A  critical  comparison  of  the  countless  and  manifold 
fantasies  which  belief  in  immortality  has  produced 
during  the  last  few  thousand  years  in  the  different 
races  and  religions  yields  a  most  remarkable  picture. 
An  intensely  interesting  presentation  of  it,  based  on 
most  extensive  original  research,  may  be  found  in 
Adalbert  Svoboda's  distinguished  works,  The  Illusion 
of  the  Soul  and  Forms  of  Faith.  However  absurd  and 
inconsistent  with  modern  knowledge  most  of  these 
myths  seem  to  be,  they  still  play  an  important  part, 
and,  as  "  postulates  of  practical  reason/'  they  exercise 
a  powerful  influence  on  the  opinions  of  individuals  and 
on  the  destiny  of  races. 

The  idealist  and  spiritualist  philosophy  of  the  day 
will  freely  grant  that  these  prevalent  materialistic 
forms  of  belief  in  immortality  are  untenable;  it  will 
say  that  the  refined  idea  of  an  immaterial  soul,  a  Pla 

209 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

tonic  "  idea  "  or  a  transcendental  psychic  substance, 
must  be  substituted  for  them.  But  modern  realism 
can  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  these  incompre- 
hensible notions ;  they  satisfy  neither  the  mind's  feel- 
ing of  causality  nor  the  yearning  of  our  emotions.  If 
we  take  a  comprehensive  glance  at  all  that  modern 
anthropology,  psychology,  and  cosmology  teach  with 
regard  to  athanatism,  we  are  forced  to  this  definite  con- 
clusion :  "  The  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  human 
soul  is  a  dogma  which  is  in  hopeless  contradiction  with 
the  most  solid  empirical  truths  of  modern  science." 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE   LAW   OF   SUBSTANCE 

The  Fundamental  Chemical  Law  of  the  Constancy  of  Matter — 
The  Fundamental  Physical  Law  of  the  Conservation  of  En- 
ergy— Combination  of  Both  Laws  in  the  Law  of  Substance — 
The  Kinetic,  Pyknotic,  and  Dualistic  Ideas  of  Substance — 
Monism  of  Matter — Ponderable  Matter — Atoms  and  Elements 
—Affinity  of  the  Elements— The  Soul  of  the  Atom  (Feeling 
and  Inclination) — Existence  and  Character  of  Ether — Ether 
and  Ponderable  Matter — Force  and  Energy — Potential  and 
Actual  Force — Unity  of  Natural  Forces — Supremacy  of  the 
Law  of  Substance 

'T'HE  supreme  and  all-pervading  law  of  nature,  the 
true  and  only  cosmological  law,  is,  in  my  opin- 
ion, the  law  of  substance  ;  its  discovery  and  establish- 
ment is  the  greatest  intellectual  triumph  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  in  the  sense  that  all  other  known  laws 
of  nature  are  subordinate  to  it.  Under  the  name  of 
"  law  of  substance  "  we  embrace  two  supreme  laws  of 
different  origin  and  age — the  older  is  the  chemical  law 
of  the  "  conservation  of  matter,"  and  the  younger  is 
the  physical  law  of  the  "conservation  of  energy."*  It 
will  be  self-evident  to  many  readers,  and  it  is  acknowl- 
edged by  most  of  the  scientific  men  of  the  day,  that 
these  two  great  laws  are  essentially  inseparable.  This 
fundamental  thesis,  however,  is  still  much  contested 

*  Cf .  Monism,  by  Ernst  Haeckel. 
211 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

in  some  quarters,  and  we  must  proceed  to  furnish  the 
proof  of  it.  But  we  must  first  devote  a  few  words  to 
each  of  the  two  laws. 

The  law  of  the  "persistence"  or  "indestructibility  of 
matter,"  established  by  Lavoisier  in  1789,  may  be  for- 
mulated thus :  The  sum  of  matter,  which  fills  infinite 
space,  is  unchangeable.  A  body  has  merely  changed 
its  form,  when  it  seems  to  have  disappeared.  When 
coal  burns,  it  is  changed  into  carbonic-acid  gas  by  com- 
bination with  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere;  when  a 
piece  of  sugar  melts  in  water,  it  merely  passes  from 
the  solid  to  the  fluid  condition.  In  the  same  way,  it  is 
merely  a  question  of  change  of  form  in  the  cases  where 
a  new  body  seems  to  be  produced.  A  shower  of  rain 
is  the  moisture  of  the  atmosphere  cast  down  in  the  form 
of  drops  of  water ;  when  a  piece  of  iron  rusts,  the  sur- 
face layer  of  the  metal  has  combined  with  water  and 
with  atmospheric  oxygen,  and  formed  a  "  rust,"  or  oxy- 
hydrate  of  iron.  Nowhere  in  nature  do  we  find  an 
example  of  the  production,  or  "  creation,"  of  new 
matter;  nowhere  does  a  particle  of  existing  matter 
pass  entirely  away.  This  empirical  truth  is  now  the 
unquestionable  foundation  of  chemistry;  it  may  be 
directly  verified  at  any  moment  by  means  of  the  bal- 
ance. To  the  great  French  chemist  Lavoisier  belongs 
the  high  merit  of  first  making  this  experiment  with  the 
balance!  At  the  present  day  the  scientist,  who  is  oc- 
cupied from  one  end  of  the  year  to  the  other  with  the 
study  of  natural  phenomena,  is  so  firmly  convinced  of 
the  absolute  "  constancy  "  of  matter  that  he  is  no  longer 
able  to  imagine  the  contrary  state  of  things. 

We  may  formulate  the  "  law  of  the  persistence  of  force  " 
or  "conservation  of  energy"  thus:  The  sum  of  force, 
which  is  at  work  in  infinite  space  and  produces  all  phe- 

212 


THE    LAW    OF    SUBSTANCE 

nomena,  is  unchangeable.  When  the  locomotive  rushes 
along  the  line,  the  potential  energy  of  the  steam  is  trans- 
formed into  the  kinetic  or  actual  energy  of  the  mechan- 
ical movement;  when  we  hear  its  shrill  whistle,  as  it 
speeds  along,  the  sound-waves  of  the  vibrating  atmos- 
phere are  conveyed  through  the  tympanum  and  the 
three  bones  of  the  ear  into  the  inner  labyrinth,  and 
thence  transferred  by  the  auditory  nerve  to  the  acoustic 
ganglionic  cells  which  form  the  centre  of  hearing  in 
the  temporal  lobe  of  the  gray  bed  of  the  brain.  The 
whole  marvellous  panorama  of  life  that  spreads  over 
the  surface  of  our  globe  is,  in  the  last  analysis,  trans- 
formed sunlight.  It  is  well  known  how  the  remark- 
able progress  of  technical  science  has  made  it  possible 
for  us  to  convert  the  different  physical  forces  from  one 
form  to  another;  heat  may  be  changed  into  molar 
movement,  or  movement  of  mass;  this  in  turn  into 
light  or  sound,  and  then  into  electricity,  and  so  forth. 
Accurate  measurement  of  the  quantity  of  force  which 
is  used  in  this  metamorphosis  has  shown  that  it  is  "  con- 
stant" or  unchanged.  No  particle  of  living  energy  is 
ever  extinguished;  no  particle  is  ever  created  anew. 
Friedrich  Mohr,  of  Bonn,  was  very  near  to  the  discov- 
ery of  this  great  fact  in  1837,  but  the  discovery  was 
actually  made  by  the  able  Swabian  physician,  Robert 
Mayer,  of  Heilbronn,  in  1842.  Independently  of  Mayer, 
however,  the  principle  was  reached  almost  at  the  same 
time  by  the  famous  physiologist,  Hermann  Helmholtz ; 
five  years  afterwards  he  pointed  out  its  general  appli- 
cation to,  and  fertility  in,  every  branch  of  physics.  We 
ought  to  say  to-day  that  it  rules  also  in  the  entire  prov- 
ince of  physiology  —  that  is,  of  "organic  physics"; 
but  on  that  point  we  meet  a  strenuous  opposition  from 
the  vitalistic  biologists  and  the  dualist  and  spiritualist 

213 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

philosophers.  For  these  the  peculiar  "  spiritual  forces  " 
of  human  nature  are  a  group  of  "  free  "  forces,  not  sub- 
ject to  the  law  of  energy ;  the  idea  is  closely  connected 
with  the  dogma  of  the  "  freedom  of  the  will."  We  have, 
however,  already  seen  (p.  204)  that  the  dogma  is  un- 
tenable. Modern  physics  draws  a  distinction  between 
"  force  "  and  "  energy/'  but  our  general  observations 
so  far  have  not  needed  a  reference  to  it. 

The  conviction  that  these  two  great  cosmic  theorems, 
the  chemical  law  of  the  persistence  of  matter  and  the 
physical  law  of  the  persistence  of  force,  are  fundament- 
ally one,  is  of  the  utmost  importance  in  our  monistic 
system.  The  two  theories  are  just  as  intimately  united 
as  their  objects — matter  and  force  or  energy.  Indeed, 
this  fundamental  unity  of  the  two  laws  is  self-evident 
to  many  monistic  scientists  and  philosophers,  since  they 
merely  relate  to  two  different  aspects  of  one  and  the 
same  object,  the  cosmos.  But,  however  natural  the 
thought  may  be,  it  is  still  very  far  from  being  general- 
ly accepted.  It  is  stoutly  contested  by  the  entire  dual- 
istic  philosophy,  vitalistic  biology,  and  parallelistic 
psychology ;  even,  in  fact,  by  a  few  (inconsistent)  mon- 
ists,  who  think  they  find  a  check  to  it  in  "  conscious- 
ness," in  the  higher  mental  activity  of  man,  or  in  other 
phenomena  of  our  "free  mental  life." 

For  my  part,  I  am  convinced  of  the  profound  im- 
portance of  the  unifying  "  law  of  substance,"  as  an 
expression  of  the  inseparable  connection  in  reality 
of  two  laws  which  are  only  separated  in  conception. 
That  they  were  not  originally  taken  together  and  their 
unity  recognized  from  the  beginning  is  merely  an  ac- 
cident of  the  date  of  their  respective  discoveries.  The 
earlier  and  more  accessible  chemical  law  of  the  per- 
sistence of  matter  was  detected  by  Lavoisier  in  1789, 

214 


THE    LAW   OF   SUBSTANCE 

and,  after  a  general  application  of  the  balance,  became 
the  basis  of  exact  chemistry.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
more  recondite  law  of  the  persistence  of  force  was  only 
discovered  by  Mayer  in  1842,  and  only  laid  down  as  the 
basis  of  exact  physics  by  Helmholtz.  The  unity  of  the 
two  laws — still  much  disputed — is  expressed  by  many 
scientists  who  are  convinced  of  it  in  the  formula :  "  Law 
of  the  persistence  of  matter  and  force."  In  order  to  have 
a  briefer  and  more  convenient  expression  for  this  fun- 
damental thought,  I  proposed  some  time  ago  to  call  it 
the  "law  of  substance"  or  the  "fundamental  cosmic 
law";  it  might  also  be  called  the  "universal  law,"  or 
the  "  law  of  constancy,"  or  the  "  axiom  of  the  constancy 
of  the  universe."  In  the  ultimate  analysis  it  is  found 
to  be  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  principle  of  caus- 
ality.* 

The  first  thinker  to  introduce  the  purely  monistic  con- 
ception of  substance  into  science  and  appreciate  its 
profound  importance  was  the  great  philosopher  Ba- 
ruch  Spinoza;  his  chief  work  appeared  shortly  after 
his  premature  death  in  1677,  just  one  hundred  years 
before  Lavoisier  gave  empirical  proof  of  the  constancy 
of  matter  by  means  of  the  chemist's  principal  instru- 
ment, the  balance.  In  his  stately  pantheistic  system 
the  notion  of  the  world  (the  universe,  or  the  cosmos) 
is  identical  with  the  all-pervading  notion  of  God  ;  it 
is  at  one  and  the  same  time  the  purest  and  most  rational 
monism  and  the  clearest  and  most  abstract  monotheism. 
This  universal  substance,  this  "  divine  nature  of  the 
world,"  shows  us  two  different  aspects  of  its  being,  or 
two  fundamental  attributes — matter  (infinitely  extended 
substance)  and  spirit  (the  all-embracing  energy  of 

*  Cf .  Monism,  by  Ernst  Haeckel. 
215 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

thought).  All  the  changes  which  have  since  come  ovei 
the  idea  of  substance  are  reduced,  on  a  logical  analysis, 
to  this  supreme  thought  of  Spinoza's ;  with  Goethe  I 
take  it  to  be  the  loftiest,  prof oundest,  and  truest  thought 
of  all  ages.  Every  single  object  in  the  world  which 
comes  within  the  sphere  of  our  cognizance,  all  individ- 
ual forms  of  existence,  are  but  special  transitory  forms 
— accidents  or  modes — of  substance.  These  modes 
are  material  things  when  we  regard  them  under  the 
attribute  of  extension  (or  "occupation  of  space "),  but 
forces  or  ideas  when  we  consider  them  under  the  at- 
tribute of  thought  (or  "  energy  ").  To  this  profound 
thought  of  Spinoza  our  purified  monism  returns  after 
a  lapse  of  two  hundred  years ;  for  us,  too,  matter  (space- 
filling substance)  and  energy  (moving  force)  are  but 
two  inseparable  attributes  of  the  one  underlying  sub- 
stance. 

Among  the  various  modifications  which  the  funda- 
mental idea  of  substance  has  undergone  in  modern 
physics,  in  association  with  the  prevalent  atomism, 
we  shall  select  only  two  of  the  most  divergent  theories 
for  a  brief  discussion,  the  kinetic  and  the  pyknotic. 
Both  theories  agree  that  we  have  succeeded  in  reducing 
all  the  different  forces  of  nature  to  one  common  original 
force;  gravity  and  chemical  action,  electricity  and 
magnetism,  light  and  heat,  etc.,  are  only  different  man- 
ifestations, forms,  or  dynamodes,  of  a  single  primitive 
force  (prodynamis) .  This  fundamental  force  is  gen- 
erally conceived  as  a  vibratory  motion  of  the  smallest 
particles  of  matter — a  vibration  of  atoms.  The  atoms 
themselves,  according  to  the  usual  "  kinetic  theory  of 
substance,"  are  dead,  separate  particles  of  matter,  which 
dance  to  and  fro  in  empty  space  and  act  at  a  distance. 
The  real  founder  and  most  distinguished  representative 

216 


THE    LAW   OF   SUBSTANCE 

of  the  kinetic  theory  is  Newton,  the  famous  discoverer 
of  the  law  of  gravitation.  In  his  great  work,  the  Philo- 
sophiae  Naturalis  Principia  Mathematica  (1687),  ne 
showed  that  throughout  the  universe  the  same  law  of 
attraction  controls  the  unvarying  constancy  of  gravi- 
tation; the  attraction  of  two  particles  being  in  direct 
proportion  to  their  mass  and  in  inverse  proportion  to 
the  square  of  their  distance.  This  universal  force  of 
gravity  is  at  work  in  the  fall  of  an  apple  and  the  tidal 
wave  no  less  than  in  the  course  of  the  planets  round 
the  sun  and  the  movements  of  all  the  heavenly  bodies. 
Newton  had  the  immortal  merit  of  establishing  the  law 
of  gravitation  and  embodying  it  in  an  indisputable 
mathematical  formula.  Yet  this  dead  mathematical 
formula,  on  which  most  scientists  lay  great  stress,  as 
so  frequently  happens,  gives  us  merely  the  quantitative 
demonstration  of  the  theory;  it  gives  us  no  insight 
whatever  into  the  qualitative  nature  of  the  phenomena. 
The  action  at  a  distance  without  a  medium,  which  New- 
ton deduced  from  his  law  of  gravitation,  and  which  be- 
came one  of  the  most  serious  and  most  dangerous  dog- 
mas of  later  physics,  does  not  afford  the  slightest  ex- 
planation of  the  real  causes  of  attraction;  indeed,  it 
long  obstructed  our  way  to  the  real  discovery  of  them. 
I  cannot  but  suspect  that  his  speculations  on  this  mys- 
terious action  at  a  distance  contributed  not  a  little  to 
the  leading  of  the  great  English  mathematician  into 
the  obscure  labyrinth  of  mystic  dreams  and  theistic 
superstition  in  which  he  passed  the  last  thirty-four  years 
of  his  life ;  we  find  him,  at  the  end,  giving  metaphysical 
hypotheses  on  the  predictions  of  Daniel  and  on  the 
paradoxical  fantasies  of  St.  John. 

In  fundamental  opposition  to  the  theory  of  vibra- 
tion, or  the  kinetic  theory  of  substance,  we  have  the 

217 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

modern  "  theory  of  condensation,"  or  the  pyknotic 
theory  of  substance.  It  is  most  ably  established  in 
the  suggestive  work  of  J.  C.  Vogt  on  The  Nature  of 
Electricity  and  Magnetism  on  the  Basis  of  a  Simplified 
Conception  of  Substance  (1891).  Vogt  assumes  the 
primitive  force  of  the  world,  the  universal  prodynamis, 
to  be,  not  the  vibration  or  oscillation  of  particles  in 
empty  space,  but  the  condensation  of  a  simple  primitive 
substance,  which  fills  the  infinity  of  space  in  an  un- 
broken continuity.  Its  sole  inherent  mechanical  form 
of  activity  consists  in  a  tendency  to  condensation  or 
contraction,  which  produces  infinitesimal  centres  of 
condensation ;  these  may  change  their  degree  of  thick- 
ness, and,  therefore,  their  volume,  but  are  constant  as 
such.  These  minute  parts  of  the  universal  substance, 
the  centres  of  condensation,  which  might  be  called 
pyknatoms,  correspond  in  general  to  the  ultimate  sep- 
arate atoms  of  the  kinetic  theory;  they  differ,  how- 
ever, very  considerably  in  that  they  are  credited  with 
sensation  and  inclination  (or  will  -  movement  of  the 
simplest  form),  with  souls,  in  a  certain  sense — in  har- 
mony with  the  old  theory  of  Empedocles  of  the  "  love 
and  hatred  of  the  elements."  Moreover,  these  "  atoms 
with  souls"  do  not  float  in  empty  space,  but  in 
the  continuous,  extremely  attenuated  intermediate 
substance,  which  represents  the  uncondensed  portion 
of  the  primitive  matter.  By  means  of  certain  "con- 
stellations, centres  of  perturbation,  or  systems  of  de- 
formation/' great  masses  of  centres  of  condensation 
quickly  unite  in  immense  proportions,  and  so  obtain  a 
preponderance  over  the  surrounding  masses.  By  that 
process  the  primitive  substance,  which  in  its  original 
state  of  quiescence  had  the  same  mean  consistency 
throughout,  divides  or  differentiates  into  two  kinds. 

218 


THE   LAW    OF    SUBSTANCE 

The  centres  of  disturbance,  which  positively  exceed  the 
mean  consistency  in  virtue  of  the  pyknosis  or  conden- 
sation, form  the  ponderable  matter  of  bodies ;  the  finer, 
intermediate  substance,  which  occupies  the  space  be- 
tween them,  and  negatively  falls  below  the  mean  con- 
sistency, forms  the  ether,  or  imponderable  matter.  As 
a  consequence  of  this  division  into  mass  and  ether  there 
ensues  a  ceaseless  struggle  between  the  two  antago- 
nistic elements,  and  this  struggle  is  the  source  of  all 
physical  processes.  The  positive  ponderable  matter, 
the  element  with  the  feeling  of  like  or  desire,  is  contin- 
ually striving  to  complete  the  process  of  condensation, 
and  thus  collecting  an  enormous  amount  of  potential 
energy;  the  negative,  imponderable  matter,  on  the 
other  hand,  offers  a  perpetual  and  equal  resistance  to 
the  further  increase  of  its  strain  and  of  the  feeling  of 
dislike  connected  therewith,  and  thus  gathers  the  ut- 
most amount  of  actual  ene:^y. 

We  cannot  go  any  further  here  into  the  details  of  the 
brilliant  theory  of  J.  C.  Vogt.  The  interested  reader 
cannot  do  better  than  have  recourse  to  the  second  vol- 
ume of  the  above  work  for  a  clear,  popular  exposition 
of  the  difficult  problem.  I  am  myself  too  little  informed 
in  physics  and  mathematics  to  enter  into  a  critical  dis- 
cussion of  its  lights  and  shades ;  still,  I  think  that  this 
pyknotic  theory  of  substance  will  prove  more  accept- 
able to  every  biologist  who  is  convinced  of  the  unity 
of  nature  than  the  kinetic  theory  which  prevails  in 
physics  to-day.  A  misunderstanding  may  easily  arise 
from  the  fact  that  Vogt  puts  his  process  of  condensa- 
tion in  explicit  contradiction  with  the  general  phenom- 
enon of  motion ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  he  is 
speaking  of  vibratory  movement  in  the  sense  of  the 
physicist.  His  hypothetical  "  condensation  "  is  just  as 

219 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

much  determined  by  a  movement  of  substance  as  is  the 
hypothetical  "vibration";  only  the  kind  of  movement 
and  the  relation  of  the  moving  elements  are  very  dif- 
ferent in  the  two  hypotheses.  Moreover,  it  is  not  the 
whole  theory  of  vibration,  but  only  an  important  section 
of  it,  that  is  contradicted  by  the  theory  of  condensation. 
Modern  physics,  for  the  most  part,  still  firmly  ad- 
heres to  the  older  theory  of  vibration,  to  the  idea  of  an 
actio  in  distans  and  the  eternal  vibration  of  dead  atoms 
in  empty  space;  it  rejects  the  pyknotic  theory.  Al- 
though Vogt's  theory  may  be  still  far  from  perfect, 
and  his  original  speculations  may  be  marred  by  many 
errors,  yet  I  think  he  has  rendered  a  very  good  service 
in  eliminating  the  untenable  principles  of  the  kinetic 
theory  of  substance.  As  to  my  own  opinion — and  that 
of  many  other  scientists — I  must  lay  down  the  following 
theses,  which  are  involved  in  Vogt's  pyknotic  theory, 
as  indispensable  for  a  truly  monistic  view  of  substance, 
and  one  that  covers  the  whole  field  of  organic  and  in- 
organic nature : 

I.  The  two  fundamental  forms  of  substance,  pon- 
derable matter  and  ether,  are  not  dead  and  only  moved 
by  extrinsic  force,  but  they  are  endowed  with  sensation 
and  will  (though,  naturally,  of  the  lowest  grade) ;  they 
experience  an  inclination  for  condensation,  a  dislike  of 
strain;  they  strive  after  the  one  and  struggle  against 
the  other. 

II.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  empty  space;  that 
part  of  space  which  is  not  occupied  with  ponderable 
atoms  is  filled  with  ether. 

III.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  action  at  a  dis- 
tance through  perfectly  empty  space;  all  action  of 
bodies  upon  each  other  is  either  determined  by  imme- 
diate contact  or  is  effected  by  the  mediation  of  ether. 

220 


THE    LAW    OF    SUBSTANCE 

Both  the  theories  of  substance  which  we  have  just 
contrasted  are  monistic  in  principle,  since  the  opposi- 
tion between  the  two  conditions  of  substance — mass 
and  ether — is  not  original;  moreover,  they  involve  a 
continuous  immediate  contact  and  reciprocal  action  of 
the  two  elements.  It  is  otherwise  with  the  dualistic 
theories  of  substance  which  still  obtain  in  the  idealist 
and  spiritualist  philosophy,  and  which  have  the  sup- 
port of  a  powerful  theology,  in  so  far  as  theology  in- 
dulges in  such  metaphysical  speculations.  These 
theories  draw  a  distinction  between  two  entirely  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  substance,  material  and  immaterial. 
Material  substance  enters  into  the  composition  of  the 
bodies  which  are  the  object  of  physics  and  chemistry ; 
the  law  of  the  persistence  of  matter  and  force  is  con- 
fined to  this  world  (apart  from  a  belief  in  its  "  creation 
from  nothing"  and  other  miracles).  Immaterial  sub- 
stance is  found  in  the  "  spiritual  world "  to  which  the 
law  does  not  extend;  in  this  province  the  laws  of 
physics  and  chemistry  are  either  entirely  inapplicable 
or  they  are  subordinated  to  a  "  vital  force,"  or  a  "  free 
will,"  or  a  "  divine  omnipotence,"  or  some  other  phan- 
tom which  is  beyond  the  ken  of  critical  science.  In 
truth,  these  profound  errors  need  no  further  refutation 
to-day,  for  experience  has  never  yet  discovered  for  us 
a  single  immaterial  substance,  a  single  force  which  is 
not  dependent  on  matter,  or  a  single  form  of  energy 
which  is  not  exerted  by  material  movement,  whether  it 
be  of  mass,  or  of  ether,  or  of  both.  Even  the  most  elabo- 
rate and  most  perfect  forms  of  energy  that  we  know — the 
psychic  life  of  the  higher  animals,  the  thought  and  rea- 
son of  man — depend  on  material  processes,  or  changes  in 
the  neuroplasm  of  the  ganglionic  cells ;  they  are  incon- 
ceivable apart  from  such  modifications.  I  have  already 

16  221 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

shown  (chap,  xi.)  that  the  physiological  hypothesis  of  a 
special,  immaterial  "  soul-substance "  is  untenable. 

The  study  of  ponderable  matter  is  primarily  the  con- 
cern of  chemistry.  Few  are  ignorant  of  the  astonish- 
ing theoretical  progress  which  this  science  has  made 
in  the  course  of  the  century  and  the  immense  practical 
influence  it  has  had  on  every  aspect  of  modern  life. 
We  shall  confine  ourselves  here  to  a  few  remarks  on 
the  more  important  questions  which  concern  the  nat- 
ure of  ponderable  matter.  It  is  well  known  that  an- 
alytical chemistry  has  succeeded  in  resolving  the  im- 
mense variety  of  bodies  in  nature  into  a  small  number 
of  simple  elements — that  is,  simple  bodies  which  are 
incapable  of  further  analysis.  The  number  of  these 
elements  is  about  seventy.  Only  fourteen  of  them  are 
widely  distributed  on  the  earth  and  of  much  practi- 
cal importance;  the  majority  are  rare  elements  (prin- 
cipally metals)  of  little  practical  moment.  The  af- 
finity of  these  groups  of  elements,  and  the  remark- 
able proportions  of  their  atomic  weights,  which 
Lothar  Meyer  and  Mendelejeff  have  proved  in  their 
Periodic  System  of  the  Elements,  make  it  extremely 
probable  that  they  are  not  absolute  species  of  ponder- 
able matter — that  is,  not  eternally  unchangeable  par- 
ticles. The  seventy  elements  have  in  that  system 
been  distributed  into  eight  leading  groups,  and  ar- 
ranged in  them  according  to  their  atomic  weight,  so 
that  the  elements  which  have  a  chemical  affinity  are 
formed  into  families.  The  relations  of  the  various 
groups  in  such  a  natural  system  of  the  elements  recall, 
on  the  one  hand,  similar  relations  of  the  innumerable 
compounds  of  carbon,  and,  again,  the  relations  of  par- 
allel groups  in  the  natural  arrangement  of  the  animal 
and  plant  species.  Since  in  the  latter  cases  the  "af- 

222 


THE    LAW    OF    SUBSTANCE 

finity "  of  the  related  forms  is  based  on  descent  from  a 
common  parent  form,  it  seems  very  probable  that  the 
same  holds  good  of  the  families  and  orders  of  the  chem- 
ical elements.  We  may,  therefore,  conclude  that  the 
"  empirical  elements  "  we  now  know  are  not  really  sim- 
ple, ultimate,  and  unchangeable  forms  of  matter,  but 
compounds  of  homogeneous,  simple,  primitive  atoms, 
variously  distributed  as  to  number  and  grouping.  The 
recent  speculations  of  Gustav  Wendt,  Wilhelm  Preyer, 
Sir  W.  Crookes,  and  others,  have  pointed  out  how  we 
may  conceive  the  evolution  of  the  elements  from  a  sim- 
ple primitive  material,  the  prothyl. 

The  modern  atomistic  theory,  which  is  regarded  as 
an  indispensable  instrument  in  chemistry  to-day,  must 
be  carefully  distinguished  from  the  old  philosophic 
atomism  which  was  taught  more  than  two  thousand 
years  ago  by  a  group  of  distinguished  thinkers  of 
antiquity — Leucippus,  Democritus,  and  Epicurus:  it 
was  considerably  developed  and  modified  later  on  by 
Descartes,  Hobbes,  Leibnitz,  and  other  famous  philos- 
ophers. But  it  was  not  until  1808  that  modern  atomism 
assumed  a  definite  and  acceptable  form,  and  was  fur- 
nished with  an  empirical  basis  by  Dalton,  who  formu- 
lated the  "law  of  simple  and  multiple  proportions" 
in  the  formation  of  chemical  combinations.  He  first 
determined  the  atomic  weight  of  the  different  elements, 
and  thus  created  the  solid  and  exact  foundation  on 
which  more  recent  chemical  theories  are  based;  these 
are  all  atomistic,  in  the  sense  that  they  assume  the 
elements  to  be  made  up  of  homogeneous,  infinitesimal, 
distinct  particles,  which  are  incapable  of  further  an- 
alysis. That  does  not  touch  the  question  of  the  real 
nature  of  the  atoms— their  form,  size,  psychology,  etc. 
These  atomic  qualities  are  merely  hypothetical ;  while 

223 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

the  chemistry  of  the  atoms,  their  "  chemical  affinity"" — 
that  is,  the  constant  proportion  in  which  they  com- 
bine with  the  atoms  of  other  elements — is  empirical.* 
The  different  relation  of  the  various  elements  towards 
each  other,  which  chemistry  calls  "  affinity/'  is  one  of 
the  most  important  properties  of  ponderable  matter; 
it  is  manifested  in  the  different  relative  quantities  or 
proportions  of  their  combination  in  the  intensity  of 
its  consummation.  Every  shade  of  inclination,  from 
complete  indifference  to  the  fiercest  passion,  is  exem- 
plified in  the  chemical  relation  of  the  various  elements 
towards  each  other,  just  as  we  find  in  the  psychology 
of  man,  and  especially  in  the  life  of  the  sexes.  Goethe, 
in  his  classical  romance,  Affinities,  compared  the  re- 
lations of  pairs  of  lovers  with  the  phenomenon  of  the 
same  name  in  the  formation  of  chemical  combinations. 
The  irresistible  passion  that  draws  Edward  to  the  sym- 
pathetic Ottilia,  or  Paris  to  Helen,  and  leaps  over  all 
bounds  of  reason  and  morality,  is  the  same  powerful 
"  unconscious  "  attractive  force  which  impels  the  living 
spermatozoon  to  force  an  entrance  into  the  ovum  in 
the  fertilization  of  the  egg  of  the  animal  or  plant — the 
same  impetuous  movement  which  unites  two  atoms  of 
hydrogen  to  one  atom  of  oxygen  for  the  formation  of  a 
molecule  of  water.  This  fundamental  unity  of  affinity 
in  the  whole  of  nature,  from  the  simplest  chemical  process 
to  the  most  complicated  love  story,  was  recognized  by 
the  great  Greek  scientist,  Empedocles,  in  the  fifth  cen- 
tury B.C.,  in  his  theory  of  "the  love  and  hatred  of  the 
elements."  It  receives  empirical  confirmation  from 
the  interesting  progress  of  cellular  psychology,  the 
great  significance  of  which  we  have  only  learned  to 

*  Cf.  Monism'  by  Ernst  Haeckel. 
224 


THE    LAW    OF    SUBSTANCE 

appreciate  in  the  last  thirty  years.  On  those  phenom- 
ena we  base  our  conviction  that  even  the  atom  is  not 
without  a  rudimentary  form  of  sensation  and  will,  or. 
as  it  is  better  expressed,  of  feeling  (aesthesis)  and  in- 
clination (tropesis)  —  that  is,  a  universal  "  soul "  of 
the  simplest  character.  The  same  must  be  said  of  the 
molecules  which  are  composed  of  two  or  more  atoms. 
Further  combinations  of  different  kinds  of  these  mole- 
cules give  rise  to  simple  and,  subsequently,  complex 
chemical  compounds,  in  the  activity  of  which  the  same 
phenomena  are  repeated  in  a  more  complicated  form. 

The  study  of  ether,  or  imponderable  matter,  per- 
tains principally  to  physics.  The  existence  of  an  ex- 
tremely attenuated  medium,  filling  the  whole  of  space 
outside  of  ponderable  matter,  was  known  and  applied 
to  the  elucidation  of  various  phenomena  (especially 
light)  a  long  time  ago ;  but  it  was  not  until  the  second 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  we  became  more 
closely  acquainted  with  this  remarkable  substance,  in 
connection  with  our  astonishing  empirical  discoveries  in 
the  province  of  electricity,  with  their  experimental  de- 
tection, their  theoretical  interpretation,  and  their  prac- 
tical application.  The  path  was  opened  in  particular 
by  the  famous  researches  of  Heinrich  Hertz,  of  Bonn, 
in  1888.  The  premature  death  of  a  brilliant  young 
physicist  of  so  much  promise  cannot  be  sufficiently 
deplored.  Like  the  premature  death  of  Spinoza,  Ra- 
phael, Schubert,  and  many  other  great  men,  it  is  one 
of  those  brutal  facts  of  human  history  which  are  enough 
of  themselves  to  destroy  the  untenable  myth  of  a  "  wise 
Providence"  and  an  "All-loving  Father  in  heaven." 

The  existence  of  ether  (or  cosmic  ether)  as  a  real  ele- 
ment is  a  positive  fact,  and  has  been  known  as  such 
for  the  last  twelve  years.  We  sometimes  read  even 

225 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

to-day  that  ether  is  a  "pure  hypothesis";  this  erro- 
neous assertion  comes  not  only  from  uninformed  phi- 
losophers and  "popular"  writers,  but  even  from  cer- 
tain "  prudent  and  exact  physicists."  But  there  would 
be  just  as  much  reason  to  deny  the  existence  of  pon- 
derable matter.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  meta- 
physicians who  accomplish  even  this  feat,  and  whose 
highest  wisdom  lies  in  denying  or  calling  into  ques- 
tion the  existence  of  an  external  universe;  accord- 
ing to  them  only  one  real  entity  exists  —  their  own 
precious  personality,  or,  to  be  more  correct,  their  im- 
mortal soul.  Several  modern  physiologists  have  em- 
braced this  ultra -idealist  view,  which  is  to  be  found 
in  Descartes,  Berkeley,  Fichte,  and  others.  Their 
"  psycho  -  monism  "  affirms :  "  One  thing  only  exists, 
and  that  is  my  own  mind."  This  audacious  spiritual- 
ism seems  to  us  to  rest  on  an  erroneous  inference  from 
Kant's  correct  critical  theory,  that  we  can  know  the 
outer  world  only  in  the  phenomenal  aspect  which  is 
accessible  to  our  human  organs  of  thought — the  brain 
and  the  organs  of  sense.  If  by  those  means  we  can 
attain  only  an  imperfect  and  limited  knowledge  of  the 
material  world,  that  is  no  reason  for  denying  its  exist- 
ence altogether.  In  my  opinion,  the  existence  of  ether 
is  as  certain  as  that  of  ponderable  matter — as  certain 
as  my  own  existence,  as  I  reflect  and  write  on  it.  As 
we  assure  ourselves  of  the  existence  of  ponderable  mat- 
ter by  its  mass  and  weight,  by  chemical  and  mechani- 
cal experiments,  so  we  prove  that  of  ether  by  the  expe- 
riences and  experiments  of  optics  and  electricity. 

Although,  however,  the  existence  of  ether  is  now 
regarded  as  a  positive  fact  by  nearly  all  physicists, 
and  although  many  effects  of  this  remarkable  sub- 
stance are  familiar  to  us  through  an  extensive  experi- 

226 


THE    LAW    OF    SUBSTANCE 

ence,  especially  in  the  way  of  optical  and  electrical 
experiments,  yet  we  are  still  far  from  being  clear  and 
confident  as  to  its  real  character.  The  views  of  the 
most  eminent  physicists,  who  have  made  a  special 
study  of  it,  are  extremely  divergent;  they  frequently 
contradict  each  other  on  the  most  important  points. 
One  is,  therefore,  free  to  choose  among  the  contradic- 
tory hypotheses  according  to  one's  knowledge  and 
judgment.  I  will  put  in  the  following  eight  theses 
the  view  which  has  approved  itself  to  me  after  mature 
reflection  on  the  subject,  though  I  am  no  expert  in 
this  department : 

I.  Ether  fills  the  whole  of  space,  in  so  far  as  it  is 
not  occupied  by  ponderable  matter,  as  a  continuous 
substance ;  it  fully   occupies  the  space  between  the 
atoms  of  ponderable  matter. 

II.  Ether  has   probably  no  chemical  quality,  and 
is  not  composed  of  atoms.     If  it  be  supposed  that  it 
consists  of  minute  homogeneous  atoms  (for  instance, 
indivisible  etheric  particles  of  a  uniform  size),  it  must 
be  further  supposed  that  there  is  something  else  be- 
tween these  atoms,  either  "empty  space"  or  a  third, 
completely  unknown  medium,  a  purely  hypothetical 
"  interether " ;  the  question  as  to  the  nature  of  this 
brings  us  back  to  the  original  difficulty,  and  so  on  in 
infinitum. 

III.  As  the  idea  of  an  empty  space  and  an  action 
at  a  distance  is  scarcely  possible  in  the  present  condi- 
tion of  our  knowledge  (at  least  it  does  not  help  to  a 
clear  monistic  view),  I  postulate  for  ether  a  special 
structure  which  is  not  atomistic,  like  that  of  ponderable 
matter,  and  which  may  provisionally  be  called  (with- 
out further  determination)  etheric  or  dynamic  structure. 

IV.  The  consistency  of  ether  is  also  peculiar,  on 

227 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

our  rrypothesis,  and  different  from  that  of  ponderable 
matter.  It  is  neither  gaseous,  as  some  conceive,  nor 
solid,  as  others  suppose;  the  best  idea  of  it  can  be 
formed  by  comparison  with  an  extremely  attenuated, 
elastic,  and  light  jelly. 

V.  Ether  may  be  called  imponderable  matter  in  the 
sense  that  we  have  no  means  of  determining  its  weight 
experimentally.     If  it  really  has  weight,  as  is  very 
probable,  it  must  be  so  slight  as  to  be  far  below  the 
capacity  of  our  most  delicate  balance.     Some  physi- 
cists have  attempted  to  determine  its  weight  by  the 
energy  of  the  light-waves,  and  have  discovered  that  it 
is  some  fifteen  trillion  times  lighter  than  atmospheric 
air ;  on  that  hypothesis  a  sphere  of  ether  of  the  size  of 
our  earth  would  weigh  at  least  two  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  (?). 

VI.  The  etheric  consistency  may  probably   (in  ac- 
cordance with  the  pyknotic  theory)  pass  into  the  gas- 
eous state  under  certain  conditions  by  progressive  con- 
densation, just  as  a  gas  may  be  converted  into  a  fluid, 
and  ultimately  into  a  solid,  by  lowering  its  tempera- 
ture. 

VII.  Consequently,  these  three  conditions  of  mat- 
ter may  be  arranged  (and  it  is  a  point  of  great  impor- 
tance in  our  monistic  cosmogony)  in  a  genetic,  contin- 
uous order.     We  may  distinguish  five  stages  in  it :  (i) 
the  etheric,  (2)  the  gaseous,  (3)  the  fluid,  (4)  the  vis- 
cous (in  the  living  protoplasm),  and  (5)  the  solid  state. 

VIII  Ether  is  boundless  and  immeasurable,  like 
the  space  it  occupies.  It  is  in  eternal  motion;  and 
this  specific  movement  of  ether  (it  is  immaterial  whether 
we  conceive  it  as  vibration,  strain,  condensation,  etc.), 
in  reciprocal  action  with  mass-movement  (or  gravita- 
tion), is  the  ultimate  cause  of  all  phenomena. 

228 


THE    LAW    OF    SUBSTANCE 


"  The  great  question  of  the  nature  of  ether,"  as 
Hertz  justly  calls  it,  includes  the  question  of  its  re- 
lation to  ponderable  matter;  for  these  two  forms  of 
matter  are  not  only  always  in  the  closest  external  con- 
tact, but  also  in  eternal,  dynamic,  reciprocal  action. 
We  may  divide  the  most  general  phenomena  of  nature, 
which  are  distinguished  by  physics  as  natural  forces 
or  "  functions  of  matter/'  into  two  groups ;  the  first  of 
them  may  be  regarded  mainly  (though  not  exclusively) 
as  a  function  of  ether,  and  the  second  a  function  of 
ponderable  matter — as  in  the  following  scheme  which 
I  take  from  my  Monism : 

THE  WORLD  (NATURE,  OR  THE  COSMOS) 


ETHER— Imponderable. 


MASS— Ponderable. 


I.  Consistency! 

Etheric   (i.e.,   neither    gaseous, 
nor  fluid  nor  solid). 
2.  Structure: 

Not  atomistic,  not  made  up  of 
separate  particles  (atoms),  but 
continuous. 

3.  Chief  Functions': 
Light,  radiant  heat,  electricity, 
and  magnetism. 


i.  Consistency': 

Not  etheric  (but  gaseous,  fluid, 
or  solid). 

2.  Structure! 

Atomistic,  made  up  of  infinitesi- 
mal, distinct  particles  (atoms) 
discontinuous. 

3.  Chief  Functions! 
Gravity,  inertia,  molecular  heat, 
and  chemical  affinity. 


The  two  groups  of  functions  of  matter,  which  we  have 
opposed  in  this  table,  may,  to  some  extent,  be  regarded 
as  the  outcome  of  the  first  " division  of  labor"  in  the 
development  of  matter,  the  "primary  ergonomy  of 
matter."  But  this  distinction  must  not  be  supposed 
to  involve  an  absolute  separation  of  the  two  antithetic 
groups;  they  always  retain  their  connection,  and  are 

229 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

in  constant  reciprocal  action.  It  is  well  known  that 
the  optical  and  electrical  phenomena  of  ether  are  close- 
ly connected  with  mechanical  and  chemical  changes 
in  ponderable  elements;  the  radiant  heat  of  ether  may 
be  directly  converted  into  the  mechanical  heat  of  the 
mass ;  gravitation  is  impossible  unless  the  ether  effects 
the  mutual  attraction  of  the  separated  atoms,  because 
we  cannot  admit  the  idea  of  an  actio  in  distans.  In 
like  manner,  the  conversion  of  one  form  of  energy  into 
another,  as  indicated  in  the  law  of  the  persistence  of 
force,  illustrates  the  constant  reciprocity  of  the  two 
chief  types  of  substance,  ether  and  mass. 

The  great  law  of  nature,  which,  under  the  title  of  the 
"  law  of  substance,"  we  put  at  the  head  of  all  physical 
considerations,  was  conceived  as  the  law  of  "  the  persist- 
ence of  force  "  by  Robert  Meyer,  who  first  formulated  it, 
and  Helmholtz,  who  continued  the  work.  Another  Ger- 
man scientist,  Friedrich  Mohr,  of  Bonn,  had  clearly 
outlined  it  in  its  main  features  ten  years  earlier  (1837). 
The  old  idea  of  force  was,  after  a  time,  differentiated 
by  modern  physics  from  that  of  energy,  which  was  at 
first  synonymous  with  it.  Hence  the  law  is  now  usu- 
ally called  the  "  law  of  the  persistence  of  energy. "  How- 
ever this  finer  distinction  need  not  enter  into  the  gen- 
eral consideration,  to  which  I  must  confine  myself  here, 
and  into  the  question  of  the  great  principle  of  the  "  per- 
sistence of  substance."  The  interested  reader  will  find 
a  very  clear  treatment  of  the  question  in  Tyndall's  ex- 
cellent paper  on  "  The  Fundamental  Law  of  Nature," 
in  his  Fragments  of  Science.  It  fully  explains  the 
broad  significance  of  this  profound  cosmic  law,  and 
points  out  its  application  to  the  main  problems  of  very 
different  branches  of  science.  We  shall  confine  our 
attention  to  the  important  fact  that  the  "  principle  of 

230 


THE    LAW    OF    SUBSTANCE 

energy  "  and  the  correlative  idea  of  the  unity  of  natu* 
ral  forces,  on  the  basis  of  a  common  origin,  are  now 
accepted  by  all  competent  physicists,  and  are  re- 
garded as  the  greatest  advance  of  physics  in  the  nine- 
teenth century.  We  now  know  that  heat,  sound,  light, 
chemical  action,  electricity,  and  magnetism  are  all 
modes  of  motion.  We  can,  by  a  certain  apparatus, 
convert  any  one  of  these  forces  into  another,  and  prove 
by  an  accurate  measurement  that  not  a  single  particle 
of  energy  is  lost  in  the  process. 

The  sum-total  of  force  or  energy  in  the  universe  re- 
mains constant,  no  matter  what  changes  take  place 
around  us;  it  is  eternal  and  infinite,  like  the  matter 
on  which  it  is  inseparably  dependent.  The  whole 
drama  of  nature  apparently  consists  in  an  alternation 
of  movement  and  repose;  yet  the  bodies  at  rest  have 
an  inalienable  quantity  of  force,  just  as  truly  as  those 
that  are  in  motion.  It  is  in  this  movement  that  the 
potential  energy  of  the  former  is  converted  into  the 
kinetic  energy  of  the  latter.  "As  the  principle  of  the 
persistence  of  force  takes  into  account  repulsion  as 
well  as  attraction,  it  affirms  that  the  mechanical  value 
of  the  potential  energy  and  the  kinetic  energy  in  the 
material  world  is  a  constant  quantity.  To  put  it  brief- 
ly, the  force  of  the  universe  is  divided  into  two  parts, 
which  may  be  mutually  converted,  according  to  a  fixed 
relation  of  value.  The  diminution  of  the  one  involves 
the  increase  of  the  other ;  the  total  value  remains  un- 
changed in  the  universe."  The  potential  energy  and 
the  actual,  or  kinetic,  energy  are  being  continually 
transformed  from  one  condition  to  the  other;  but  the 
infinite  sum  of  force  in  the  world  at  large  never  suffers 
the  slightest  curtailment. 

Once  modern  physics  had  established  the  law  of  sub- 
231 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

stance  as  far  as  the  simpler  relations  of  inorganic  bod- 
ies are  concerned,  physiology  took  up  the  story,  and 
proved  its  application  to  the  entire  province  of  the  or- 
ganic world.  It  showed  that  all  the  vital  activities 
of  the  organism — without  exception — are  based  on  a 
constant  "  reciprocity  of  force  "  and  a  correlative  change 
of  material,  or  metabolism,  just  as  much  as  the  simplest 
processes  in  "  lifeless  "  bodies.  Not  only  the  growth 
and  the  nutrition  of  plants  and  animals,  but  even  their 
functions  of  sensation  and  movement,  their  sense-action 
and  psychic  life,  depend  on  the  conversion  of  potential 
into  kinetic  energy,  and  vice  versa.  This  supreme 
law  dominates  also  those  elaborate  performances  of 
the  nervous  system  which  we  call,  in  the  higher  ani- 
mals and  man,  "the  action  of  the  mind." 

Our  monistic  view,  that  the  great  cosmic  law  applies 
throughout  the  whole  of  nature,  is  of  the  highest  mo- 
ment. For  it  not  only  involves,  on  its  positive  side, 
the  essential  unity  of  the  cosmos  and  the  causal  con- 
nection of  all  phenomena  that  come  within  our  cogni- 
zance, but  it  also,  in  a  negative  way,  marks  the  highest 
intellectual  progress,  in  that  it  definitely  rules  out  the 
three  central  dogmas  of  metaphysics — God,  freedom, 
and  immortality.  In  assigning  mechanical  causes  to 
phenomena  everywhere,  the  law  of  substance  conies 
into  line  with  the  universal  law  of  causality. 


CHAPTER    XIII 
THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WORLD 

The  Notion  of  Creation — Miracles — Creation  of  the  Whole  Uni- 
verse and  of  its  Various  Parts — Creation  of  Substance  (Cos- 
mological  Creation) — Deism  :  One  Creative  Day — Creation  of 
Separate  Entities — Five  Forms  of  Ontological  Creationism — 
Theory  of  Evolution — I.  Monistic  Cosmogony — Beginning 
and  End  of  the  World — The  Infinity  and  Eternity  of  the  Uni- 
verse— Space  and  Time — Universum  perpetuum  mobile — En- 
tropy of  the  Universe — II.  Monistic  Geogeny — History  of  the 
Inorganic  and  Organic  Worlds — III.  Monistic  Biogeny — 
Transformism  and  the  Theory  of  Descent:  Lamarck  and 
Darwin — IV.  Monistic  Anthropogeny — Origin  of  Man 

'""THE  greatest,  vastest,  and  most  difficult  of  all  cos- 
mic problems  is  that  of  the  origin  and  develop- 
ment of  the  world — the  "question  of  creation,"  in  a 
word.  Even  to  the  solution  of  this  most  difficult  world- 
riddle  the  nineteenth  century  has  contributed  more  than 
all  its  predecessors ;  in  a  certain  sense,  indeed,  it  has 
found  the  solution.  We  have  at  least  attained  to  a 
clear  view  of  the  fact  that  all  the  partial  questions  of 
creation  are  indivisibly  connected,  that  they  represent 
one  single,  comprehensive  "  cosmic  problem,"  and  that 
the  key  to  this  problem  is  found  in  the  one  magic 
word — evolution.  The  great  questions  of  the  crea- 
tion of  man,  the  creation  of  the  animals  and  plants, 
the  creation  of  the  earth  and  the  sun,  etc.,  are  all 
parts  of  the  general  question,  What  is  the  origin  of  the 

233 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

whole  world?  Has  it  been  created  by  supernatural 
power,  or  has  it  been  evolved  by  a  natural  process  ?  What 
are  the  causes  and  the  manner  of  this  evolution?  If 
we  succeed  in  finding  the  correct  answer  to  one  of  these 
questions,  we  have,  according  to  our  monistic  concep- 
tion of  the  world,  cast  a  brilliant  light  on  the  solution 
of  them  all,  and  on  the  entire  cosmic  problem. 

The  current  opinion  as  to  the  origin  of  the  world  in 
earlier  ages  was  almost  a  universal  belief  in  creation. 
This  belief  has  been  expressed  in  thousands  of  inter- 
esting, more  or  less  fabulous,  legends,  poems,  cosmog- 
onies, and  myths.  A  few  great  philosophers  were  de- 
void of  it,  especially  those  remarkable  free-thinkers  of 
classical  antiquity  who  first  conceived  the  idea  of  nat- 
ural evolution.  All  the  creation-myths,  on  the  con- 
trary, were  of  a  supernatural,  miraculous,  and  trans- 
cendental character.  Incompetent,  as  it  was,  to  inves- 
tigate for  itself  the  nature  of  the  world  and  its  origin 
by  natural  causes,  the  undeveloped  mind  naturally 
had  recourse  to  the  idea  of  miracle.  In  most  of  these 
creation-myths  anthropism  was  blended  with  the  belief 
in  the  miraculous.  The  creator  was  supposed  to  have 
constructed  the  world  on  a  definite  plan,  just  as  man 
accomplishes  his  artificial  constructions;  the  concep- 
tion of  the  creator  was  generally  completely  anthropo- 
morphic, a  palpable  "  anthropistic  creationism."  The 
"  all-mighty  maker  of  heaven  and  earth,"  as  he  is  called 
in  Genesis  and  the  Catechism,  is  just  as  humanly  con- 
ceived as  the  modern  creator  of  Agassiz  and  Reinke, 
or  the  intelligent  "engineer"  of  other  recent  biologists. 

Entering  more  fully  into  the  notion  of  creation,  we 
can  distinguish  as  two  entirely  different  acts  the  prq- 
duction  of  the  universe  as  a  whole  and  the  partial  pro- 
duction of  its  various  parts,  in  harmony  with  Spinoza's 

234 


THE    EVOLUTION   OF    THE    WORLD 

idea  of  substance  (the  universe)  and  accidents  (or  modes, 
the  individual  phenomena  of  substance).  This  dis- 
tinction is  of  great  importance,  because  there  are  many 
eminent  philosophers  who  admit  the  one  and  reject  the 
other. 

According  to  this  creationist  theory,  then,  God  has 
"made  the  world  out  of  nothing."  It  is  supposed 
that  God  (a  rational,  but  immaterial,  being)  existed1 
by  himself  for  an  eternity  before  he  resolved  to  create 
the  world.  Some  supporters  of  the  theory  restrict  God's 
creative  function  to  one  single  act;  they  believe  that 
this  extramundane  God  (the  rest  of  whose  life  is  shroud- 
ed in  mystery)  created  the  substance  of  the  world  in  a 
single  moment,  endowed  it  with  the  faculty  of  the  most 
extensive  evolution,  and  troubled  no  further  about  it. 
This  view  may  be  found,  for  instance,  in  the  English 
Deists  in  many  forms.  It  approaches  very  close  to  our 
monistic  theory  of  evolution,  only  abandoning  it  in  the 
one  instant  in  which  God  accomplished  the  creation. 
Other  creationists  contend  that  God  did  not  confine 
himself  to  the  mere  creation  of  matter,  but  that  he 
continues  to  be  operative  as  the  "  sustainer  and  ruler 
of  the  world."  Different  modifications  of  this  belief 
are  found,  some  approaching  very  close  to  pantheism 
and  others  to  complete  theism.  All  these  and  similar 
forms  of  belief  in  creation  are  incompatible  with  the 
law  of  the  persistence  of  matter  and  force;  that  law 
knows  nothing  of  a  beginning. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  E.  du  Bois-Reymond  has 
identified  himself  with  this  cosmological  creationism 
in  his  latest  speech  (on  "  Neo vitalism,"  1894).  "  It  is 
more  consonant  with  the  divine  omnipotence,"  he  says, 
"  to  assume  that  it  created  the  whole  material  of  the 
world  in  one  creative  act  unthinkable  ages  ago  in  such 

235 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

wise  that  it  should  be  endowed  with  inviolable  laws  to 
control  the  origin  and  the  progress  of  living  things — 
that,  for  instance,  here  on  earth  rudimentary  organ- 
isms should  arise  from  which,  without  further  assist- 
ance, the  whole  of  living  nature  could  be  evolved,  from 
a  primitive  bacillus  to  the  graceful  palm-wood,  from  a 
primitive  micrococcus  to  Solomon's  lovely  wives  or  to 
the  brain  of  Newton.  Thus  we  are  content  with  one 
creative  day,  and  we  derive  organic  nature  mechanic- 
ally, without  the  aid  of  either  old  or  new  vitalism." 
Du  Bois  -  Reymond  here  shows,  as  in  the  question  of 
consciousness,  the  shallow  and  illogical  character  of 
his  monistic  thought. 

According  to  another  still  prevalent  theory,  which 
may  be  called  "ontological  creationism,"  God  not  only 
created  the  world  at  large,  but  also  its  separate  contents. 
In  the  Christian  world  the  old  Semitic  legend  of  crea- 
tion, taken  from  Genesis,  is  still  very  widely  accepted ; 
even  among  modern  scientists  it  finds  an  adherent 
here  and  there.  I  have  fully  entered  into  the  criticism 
of  it  in  the  first  chapter  of  my  Natural  History  of  Crea- 
tion. The  following  theories  may  be  enumerated  as 
the  most  interesting  modifications  of  this  ontological 
creationism : 

I.  Dwtiistic  creation. — God  restricted  his  interference 
to  two  creative  acts.  First  he  created  the  inorganic 
world,  mere  dead  substance,  to  which  alone  the  law  of 
energy  applies,  working  blindly  and  aimlessly  in  the 
mechanism  of  material  things  and  the  building  of  the 
mountains;  then  God  attained  intelligence  and  com- 
municated it  to  the  purposive  intelligent  forces  which 
initiate  and  control  organic  evolution." 

*  Reinke,  Die  Welt  als  That  (1899). 
236 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    THE    WORLD 

II.  Trialistic  creation. — God  made  the  world  in  three 
creative  acts :  (a)  the  creation  of  the  heavens  —  the  ex- 
tra-terrestrial world,  (b)  the  creation  of  the  earth  (as 
the  centre  of  the  world)  and  of  its  living  inhabitants, 
and  (c)  the  creation  of  man  (in  the  image  and  likeness 
of  God).     This  dogma  is  still  widely  prevalent  among 
theologians  and  other  *  educated  "  people ;  it  is  taught 
as  the  truth  in  many  of  our  schools.  \ 

III.  Heptameral  creation  ;  a  creation  in  seven  days 
(teste  Moses).  —  Although  few  educated  people  really 
believe  in  this  Mosaic  myth  now,  it  is  still  firmly  im- 
pressed on  our  children  in  the  biblical  lessons  of  their 
earliest  years.     The  numerous  attempts  that  have  been 
made,  especially  in  England,  to  harmonize  it  with  the 
modern  theory  of  evolution  have  entirely  failed.     It 
obtained  some  importance  in  science  when  Linn6  adopt- 
ed it  in  the  establishment  of  his  system,  and  based  his 
definition  of  organic  species  (which  he  considered  to  be 
unchangeable)  on  it :  "  There  are  as  many  different 
species  of  animals  and  plants  as  there  were  different 
forms  created  in  the  beginning  by  the  Infinite."    This 
dogma  was  pretty  generally  held  until  the  time  of 
Darwin  (1859),  although  Lamarck  had  already  proved 
its  untenability  in  1809. 

IV.  Periodic  creation. — At  the  beginning  of  each 
period  of  the  earth's  history  the  whole  population  of 
animals  and  plants  was  created  anew,  and  destroyed 
by  a  general  catastrophe  at  its  close;   there  were  as 
many  general  creative  acts  as  there  are  distinct  geolog- 
ical periods  (the  catastrophic  theory  of  Cuvier  [1818] 
and    Louis    Agassiz    [1858]).     Palaeontology,    which 
seemed  to  support  this  theory  in  its  more  imperfect 
stage,  has  since  completely  refuted  it. 

V.  Individual  creation. — Every   single  man — and 
17  237 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

every  individual  animal  and  plant — does  not  arise  by 
a  natural  process  of  growth,  but  is  created  by  the  favor 
of  God.  This  view  of  creation  is  still  often  met  with 
in  journals,  especially  in  the  "  births"  column.  The 
special  talents  and  features  of  our  children  are  often 
gratefully  acknowledged  to  be  "gifts  of  God";  their 
hereditary  defects  fit  into  another  theory. 

The  error  of  these  creation-legends  and  the  cognate 
belief  in  miracles  must  have  been  apparent  to  thought- 
ful minds  at  an  early  period ;  more  than  two  thousand 
years  ago  we  find  that  many  attempts  were  made  to 
replace  them  by  a  rational  theory,  and  to  explain  the 
origin  of  the  world  by  natural  causes.  In  the  front 
rank,  once  more,  we  must  place  the  leaders  of  the  Ionic 
school,  with  Democritus,  Heraclitus,  Empedocles,  Aris- 
totle, Lucretius,  and  other  ancient  philosophers.  The 
first  imperfect  attempts  which  they  made  astonish 
us,  in  a  measure,  by  the  flashes  of  mental  light  in 
which  they  anticipate  modern  ideas.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  classical  antiquity  had  not  that  solid 
groundwork  for  scientific  speculation  which  has  been 
provided  by  the  countless  observations  and  experiments 
of  modern  scientists.  During  the  Middle  Ages — es- 
pecially during  the  domination  of  the  papacy — scien- 
tific work  in  this  direction  entirely  ceased.  The  tort- 
ure and  the  stake  of  the  Inquisition  insured  that  an 
unconditional  belief  in  the  Hebrew  mythology  should 
be  the  final  answer  to  all  the  questions  of  creation. 
Even  the  phenomena  which  led  directly  to  the  observa- 
tion of  the  facts  of  evolution — the  embryology  of  the 
plant  and  the  animal,  and  of  man — remained  un- 
noticed, or  only  excited  the  interest  of  an  occasional 
keen  observer;  but  their  discoveries  were  ignored  or 
forgotten.  Moreover,  the  path  to  a  correct  knowledge 

238 


THE    EVOLUTION    O'F   THE    WORLD 

of  natural  development  was  barred  by  the  dominant 
theory  of  preformation,  the  dogma  which  held  that  the 
characteristic  form  and  structure  of  each  animal  and 
plant  were  already  sketched  in  miniature  in  the  germ 
(cf.  p.  54). 

The  science  which  we  now  call  the  science  of  evolu- 
tion (in  the  broadest  sense)  is,  both  in  its  general  out- 
line and  in  its  separate  parts,  a  child  of  the  nineteenth 
century;  it  is  one  of  its  most  momentous  and  most 
brilliant  achievements.  Almost  unknown  in  the  pre- 
ceding century,  this  theory  has  now  become  the  sure 
foundation  of  our  whole  world-system.  I  have  treated 
it  exhaustively  in  my  General  Morphology  (1866),  more 
popularly  in  my  Natural  History  of  Creation  (1868), 
and  in  its  special  application  to  man  in  my  Anthro- 
pogeny  (1874).  Here  I  shall  restrict  myself  to  a  brief 
survey  of  the  chief  advances  which  the  science  has  made 
in  the  course  of  the  century.  It  falls  into  four  sections, 
according  to  the  nature  of  its  object;  that  is,  it  deals 
with  the  natural  origin  of  (i)  the  cosmos,  (2)  the  earth, 
(3)  terrestrial  forms  of  life,  and  (4)  man. 

L— MONISTIC  COSMOGONY 

The  first  attempt  to  explain  the  constitution  and  the 
mechanical  origin  of  the  world  in  a  simple  manner  by 
"Newtonian  laws"  —  that  is,  by  mathematical  and 
physical  laws — was  made  by  Immanuel  Kant  in  the 
famous  work  of  his  youth  (1755),  General  History  of 
the  Earth  and  Theory  of  the  Heavens.  Unfortunately, 
this  distinguished  and  daring  work  remained  almost 
unknown  for  ninety  years ;  it  was  only  disinterred  in 
1845  by  Alexander  Humboldt  in  the  first  volume  of 
his  Cosmos.  In  the  mean  time  the  great  French  math- 

239 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

ematician,  Pierre  Laplace,  had  arrived  independently 
at  similar  views  to  those  of  Kant,  and  he  gave  them 
a  mathematical  foundation  in  his  Exposition  du  Sys- 
tfrme  du  Monde  (1796).  His  chief  work,  the  Mecanique 
Celeste,  appeared  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  analo- 
gous features  of  the  cosmogony  of  Kant  and  Laplace 
consist,  as  is  well  known,  in  a  mechanical  explana- 
tion of  the  movements  of  the  planets,  and  the  conclu- 
sion which  is  drawn  therefrom,  that  all  the  cosmic 
bodies  were  formed  originally  by  a  condensation  of 
rotating  nebulous  spheres.  This  tt  nebular  hypothe- 
sis "  has  been  much  improved  and  supplemented  since, 
but  it  is  still  the  best  of  all  the  attempts  to  explain  the 
origin  of  the  world  on  monistic  and  mechanical  lines. 
It  has  recently  been  strongly  confirmed  and  enlarged 
by  the  theory  that  this  cosmogonic  process  did  not 
simply  take  place  once,  but  is  periodically  repeated. 
While  new  cosmic  bodies  arise  and  develop  out  of  ro- 
tating masses  of  nebula  in  some  parts  of  the  universe, 
in  other  parts  old,  extinct,  frigid  suns  come  into  colli- 
sion, and  are  once  more  reduced  by  the  heat  generated 
to  the  condition  of  nebulae. 

Nearly  all  the  older  and  the  more  recent  cosmogo- 
nies, including  most  of  those  which  were  inspired  by 
Kant  and  Laplace,  started  from  the  popular  idea  that 
the  world  had  had  a  beginning.  Hence,  according  to  a 
widespread  version  of  the  nebular  hypothesis,  "in  the 
beginning"  was  made  a  vast  nebula  of  infinitely  at- 
tenuated and  light  material,  and  at  a  certain  moment 
(" countless  ages  ago")  a  movement  of  rotation  was 
imparted  to  this  mass.  Given  this  "  first  beginning" 
of  the  cosmogonic  movement,  it  is  easy,  on  mechanical 
principles,  to  deduce  and  mathematically  establish  the 
further  phenomena  of  the  formation  of  the  cosmic 

240 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    THE   WORLD 

bodies,  the  separation  of  the  planets,  and  so  forth. 
This  first  "origin  of  movement  "is  Du  Bois-Reymond's 
second  "world-enigma";  he  regards  it  as  transcen- 
dental. Many  other  scientists  and  philosophers  are 
equally  helpless  before  this  difficulty;  they  resign 
themselves  to  the  notion  that  we  have  here  a  primary 
"  supernatural  impetus  "  to  the  scheme  of  things,  a 
"  miracle/' 

In  our  opinion,  this  second  "  world  -  enigma "  is 
solved  by  the  recognition  that  movement  is  as  innate 
and  original  a  property  of  substance  as  is  sensation. 
The  proof  of  this  monistic  assumption  is  found,  first, 
in  the  law  of  substance,  and,  secondly,  in  the  discov- 
eries which  astronomy  and  physics  have  made  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  century  By  the  spectral  analysis  of 
Bunsen  and  Kirchhoff  (1860)  we  have  found,  not  only 
that  the  millions  of  bodies,  which  fill  the  infinity  of 
space,  are  of  the  same  material  as  our  own  sun  and 
earth,  but  also  that  they  are  in  various  stages  of  evo- 
lution; we  have  obtained  by  its  aid  information  as  to 
the  movements  and  distances  of  the  stars,  which  the 
telescope  would  never  have  given  us.  Moreover,  the 
telescope  itself  has  been  vastly  improved,  and  has,  in 
alliance  with  photography,  made  a  host  of  scientific 
discoveries  of  which  no  one  dreamed  at  the  beginning 
of  the  century.  In  particular,  a  closer  acquaintance 
with  comets,  meteorites,  star-clusters,  and  nebulae  has 
helped  us  to  realize  the  great  significance  of  the  smaller 
bodies  which  are  found  in  millions  in  the  space  between 
the  stars. 

We  now  know  that  the  paths  of  the  millions  of  heav- 
enly bodies  are  changeable,  and  to  some  extent  irregu- 
lar, whereas  the  planetary  system  was  formerly  thought 
to  be  constant,  and  the  rotating  spheres  were  described 

241 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

as  pursuing  their  orbits  in  eternal  regularity.  Astro- 
physics owes  much  of  its  triumph  to  the  immense  prog- 
ress of  other  branches  of  physics,  of  optics,  and  elec- 
tricity, and  especially  of  the  theory  of  ether.  And  here, 
again,  our  supreme  law  of  substance  is  found  to  be  one 
of  the  most  valuable  achievements  of  modern  science. 
We  now  know  that  it  rules  unconditionally  in  the  most 
distant  reaches  of  space,  just  as  it  does  in  our  planetary 
system,  in  the  most  minute  particle  of  the  earth  as 
well  as  in  the  smallest  cell  of  our  human  frame.  We 
are,  moreover,  justified  in  concluding,  if  we  are  not 
logically  compelled  to  conclude,  that  the  persistence 
of  matter  and  force  has  held  good  throughout  all  time 
as  it  does  to-day.  Through  all  eternity  the  infinite 
universe  has  been,  and  is,  subject  to  the  law  of  sub- 
stance. 

From  this  great  progress  of  astronomy  and  physics, 
which  mutually  elucidate  and  supplement  each  other, 
we  draw  a  series  of  most  important  conclusions  with 
regard  to  the  constitution  and  evolution  of  the  cosmos, 
and  the  persistence  and  transformation  of  substance. 
Let  us  put  them  briefly  in  the  following  theses : 

I.  The  extent  of  the  universe  is  infinite  and  un- 
bounded ;  it  is  empty  in  no  part,  but  everywhere  filled 
with  substance. 

II.  The  duration  of  the  world  is  equally  infinite 
and  unbounded ;  it  has  no  beginning  and  no  end :  it 
is  eternity. 

III.  Substance  is  everywhere  and  always  in  unin- 
terrupted movement  and  transformation:  nowhere  is 
there  perfect  repose  and  rigidity ;  yet  the  infinite  quan- 
tity of  matter  and  of  eternally  changing  force  remains 
constant. 

IV.  This  universal  movement  of  substance  in  space 

242 


THE   EVOLUTION    OF   THE    WORLD 

takes  the  form  of  an  eternal  cycle  or  of  a  periodical  pro- 
cess of  evolution. 

V.  The  phases  of  this  evolution  consist  in  a  peri- 
odic change  of  consistency,  of  which  the  first  outcome 
is  the  primary  division  into  mass  and  ether — the  er- 
gonomy  of  ponderable  and  imponderable  matter. 

VI.  This  division  is  effected  by  a  progressive  con- 
densation of  matter  as  the  formation  of  countless  in- 
finitesimal "  centres  of  condensation/'  in  which  the  in- 
herent primitive  properties  of  substance — feeling  and 
inclination — are  the  active  causes. 

VII.  While  minute  and  then  larger  bodies  are  being 
formed  by  this  pyknotic  process  in  one  part  of  space, 
and  the  intermediate  ether  increases  its  strain,  the  op- 
posite process — the  destruction  of  cosmic  bodies  by 
collision — is  taking  place  in  another  quarter. 

VIII.  The  immense  quantity  of  heat  which  is  gen- 
erated in  this  mechanical  process  of  the  collision  of 
swiftly  moving  bodies  represents  the  new  kinetic  en- 
ergy which  effects  the  movement  of  the  resultant  nebu- 
lae and  the  construction  of  new  rotating  bodies.     The 
eternal  drama  begins  afresh.     Even  our  mother  earth, 
which  was  formed  of  part  of  the  gyrating  solar  system 
millions  of  ages  ago,  will  grow  cold  and  lifeless  after 
the  lapse  of  further  millions,  and,  gradually  narrow- 
ing its  orbit,  will  fall  eventually  into  the  sun. 

It  seems  to  me  that  these  modern  discoveries  as  to 
the  periodic  decay  and  re-birth  of  cosmic  bodies,  which 
we  owe  to  the  most  recent  advance  of  physics  and  as- 
tronomy, associated  with  the  law  of  substance,  are 
especially  important  in  giving  us  a  clear  insight  into 
the  universal  cosmic  process  of  evolution.  In  their 
light  our  earth  shrinks  into  the  slender  proportions 
of  a  "mote  in  the  sunbeam,"  of  which  unnumbered 

243 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

millions  chase  each  other  through  the  vast  depths  of 
space.  Our  own  "  human  nature/'  which  exalted  itself 
into  an  image  of  God  in  its  anthropistic  illusion,  sinks 
to  the  level  of  a  placental  mammal,  which  has  no  more 
value  for  the  universe  at  large  than  the  ant,  the  fly  of 
a  summer's  day,  the  microscopic  infusorium,  or  the 
smallest  bacillus.  Humanity  is  but  a  transitory  phase 
of  the  evolution  of  an  eternal  substance,  a  particular 
phenomenal  form  of  matter  and  energy,  the  true  pro- 
portion of  which  we  soon  perceive  when  we  set  it  on 
the  background  of  infinite  space  and  eternal  time. 

Since  Kant  explained  space  and  time  to  be  merely 
"  forms  of  perception  " — space  the  form  of  external, 
time  of  internal,  sensitivity — there  has  been  a  keen 
controversy,  which  still  continues,  over  this  important 
problem.  A  large  section  of  modern  metaphysicians 
have  persuaded  themselves  that  this  "critical  fact" 
possesses  a  great  importance  as  the  starting-point  of 
"a  purely  idealist  theory  of  knowledge,"  and  that,  con- 
sequently, the  natural  opinion  of  the  ordinary  healthy 
mind  as  to  the  reality  of  time  and  space  is  swept  aside. 
This  narrow  and  ultra  -  idealist  conception  of  time 
and  space  has  become  a  prolific  source  of  error.  It 
overlooks  the  fact  that  Kant  only  touched  one  side 
of  the  problem,  the  subjective  side,  in  that  theory,  and 
recognized  the  equal  validity  of  its  objective  side. 
"  Time  and  space,"  he  said,  "  have  empirical  reality,  but 
transcendental  ideality."  Our  modern  monism  is  quite 
compatible  with  this  thesis  of  Kant's,  but  not  with  the 
one-sided  exaggeration  of  the  subjective  aspect  of  the 
problem ;  the  latter  leads  logically  to  the  absurd  ideal- 
ism that  culminates  in  Berkeley's  thesis,  "  Bodies  are 
but  ideas;  their  essence  is  in  their  perception."  The 
thesis  should  be  read  thus :  "  Bodies  are  only  ideas 

244 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    THE    WORLD 

for  my  personal  consciousness ;  their  existence  is  just 
as  real  as  that  of  my  organs  of  thought,  the  ganglionic 
cells  in  the  gray  bed  of  my  brain,  which  receive  the  im- 
press of  bodies  on  my  sense-organs  and  form  those 
ideas  by  association  of  the  impressions.  It  is  just 
as  easy  to  doubt  or  to  deny  the  reality  of  my  own  con- 
sciousness as  to  doubt  that  of  time  and  space.  In  the 
delirium  of  fever,  in  hallucinations,  in  dreams,  and  in 
double-consciousness,  I  take  ideas  to  be  true  which  are 
merely  fancies.  I  mistake  my  own  personality  for 
another  (vide  p.  185) ;  Descartes'  famous  Cogito  ergo 
sum  applies  no  longer.  On  the  other  hand,  the  real- 
ity of  time  and  space  is  now  fully  established  by  that 
expansion  of  our  philosophy  which  we  owe  to  the  law 
of  substance  and  to  our  monistic  cosmogony.  When 
we  have  happily  got  rid  of  the  untenable  idea  of 
"empty  space,"  there  remains  as  the  infinite  "space- 
filling "-medium  matter,  in  its  two  forms  of  ether  and 
mass.  So  also  we  find  a  "time-filling"  event  in  the 
eternal  movement,  or  genetic  energy,  which  reveals 
itself  in  the  uninterrupted  evolution  of  substance,  in 
the  perpetuum  mobile  of  the  universe. 

As  a  body  which  has  been  set  in  motion  continues 
to  move  as  long  as  no  external  agency  interferes  with 
it,  the  idea  was  conceived  long  ago  of  constructing  an 
apparatus  which  should  illustrate  perpetual  motion. 
The  fact  was  overlooked  that  every  movement  meets 
with  external  impediments  and  gradually  ceases,  un- 
less a  new  impetus  is  given  to  it  from  without  and  a 
new  force  is  introduced  to  counteract  the  impediments. 
Thus,  for  instance,  a  pendulum  would  swing  back- 
ward and  forward  for  an  eternity  at  the  same  speed  if 
the  resistance  of  the  atmosphere  and  the  friction  at 
the  point  it  hangs  from  did  not  gradually  deprive  it  of 

245 


THE  RIDDLE   OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

the  mechanical  kinetic  energy  of  its  motion  and  con- 
vert it  into  heat.  We  have  to  furnish  it  with  fresh 
mechanical  energy  by  a  spring  (or,  as  in  the  pendulum- 
clock,  by  the  drag  of  a  weight).  Hence  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  construct  a  machine  that  would  produce,  with- 
out external  aid,  a  surplus  of  energy  by  which  it  could 
keep  itself  going.  Every  attempt  to  make  such  a  per- 
petuum  mobile  must  necessarily  fail;  the  discovery  of 
the  law  of  substance  showed,  in  addition,  the  theoreti- 
cal impossibility  of  it. 

The  case  is  different,  however,  when  we  turn  to  the 
world  at  large,  the  boundless  universe  that  is  in  eternal 
movement.  The  infinite  matter,  which  fills  it  objec- 
tively, is  what  we  call  space  in  our  subjective  impres- 
sion of  it ;  time  is  our  subjective  conception  of  its  eternal 
movement,  which  is,  objectively,  a  periodic,  cyclic  evo- 
lution. These  two  "  forms  of  perception  "  teach  us  the 
infinity  and  eternity  of  the  universe.  That  is,  more- 
over, equal  to  saying  that  the  universe  itself  is  a  per- 
petuum  mobile.  This  infinite  and  eternal  "  machine 
of  the  universe"  sustains  itself  in  eternal  and  uninter- 
rupted movement,  because  every  impediment  is  com- 
pensated by  an  "  equivalence  of  energy,"  and  the  un- 
limited sum  of  kinetic  and  potential  energy  remains 
always  the  same.  The  law  of  the  persistence  of  force 
proves  also  that  the  idea  of  a  perpetuum  mobile  is  just  as 
applicable  to,  and  as  significant  for,  the  cosmos  as  a 
whole  as  it  is  impossible  for  the  isolated  action  of  any 
part  of  it.  Hence  the  theory  of  entropy  is  likewise  un- 
tenable. 

The  able  founder  of  the  mechanical  theory  of  heat 
(1850),  Clausius,  embodied  the  momentous  contents  of 
this  important  theory  in  two  theses.  The  first  runs: 
"  The  energy  of  the  universe  is  constant  " — that  is  one- 

246 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF   THE    WORLD 

half  of  our  law  of  substance,  the  principle  of  energy 
(vide  p.  230).  The  second  thesis  is:  "  The  energy  of 
the  universe  tends  towards  a  maximum."  In  my  opin- 
ion this  second  assertion  is  just  as  erroneous  as  the 
first  is  true.  In  the  theory  of  Clausius  the  entire  energy 
of  the  universe  is  of  two  kinds,  one  of  which  (heat  of 
the  higher  degree,  mechanical,  electrical,  chemical 
energy,  etc.)  is  partly  convertible  into  work,  but  the 
other  is  not ;  the  latter  energy,  already  converted  into 
heat  and  distributed  in  the  cooler  masses,  is  irrevo- 
cably lost  as  far  as  any  further  work  is  concerned. 
Clausius  calls  this  unconsumed  energy,  which  is  no 
longer  available  for  mechanical  work,  entropy  (that  is, 
force  that  is  directed  inward) ;  it  is  continually  in- 
creasing at  the  cost  of  the  other  half.  As,  therefore, 
the  mechanical  energy  of  the  universe  is  daily  being 
transformed  into  heat,  and  this  cannot  be  reconverted 
into  mechanical  force,  the  sum  of  heat  and  energy  in 
the  universe  must  continually  tend  to  be  reduced  and 
dissipated.  All  difference  of  temperature  must  ulti- 
mately disappear,  and  the  completely  latent  heat  must 
be  equally  distributed  through  one  inert  mass  of  mo- 
tionless matter.  All  organic  life  and  movement  must 
cease  when  this  maximum  of  entropy  has  been  reached. 
That  would  be  a  real  "  end  of  the  world." 

If  this  theory  of  entropy  were  true,  we  should  have 
a  " beginning "  corresponding  to  this  assumed  "end" 
of  the  world — a  minimum  of  entropy,  in  which  the  dif- 
ferences in  temperature  of  the  various  parts  of  the  cos- 
mos would  be  at  a  maximum.  Both  ideas  are  quite 
untenable  in  the  light  of  our  monistic  and  consistent 
theory  of  the  eternal  cosmogenetic  process;  both  con- 
tradict the  law  of  substance.  There  is  neither  begin- 
ning nor  end  of  the  world.  The  universe  is  infinite, 

-247 


THE    RIDDLE   OF  THE    UNIVERSE 

and  eternally  in  motion ;  the  conversion  of  kinetic  into 
potential  energy,  and  vicissim,  goes  on  uninterrupted- 
ly ;  and  the  sum  of  this  actual  and  potential  energy 
remains  constant.  The  second  thesis  of  the  mechan- 
ical theory  of  heat  contradicts  the  first,  and  so  must 
be  rejected. 

The  representatives  of  the  theory  of  entropy  are 
quite  correct  as  long  as  they  confine  themselves  to  dis- 
tinct processes,  in  which,  under  certain  conditions,  the 
latent  heat  cannot  be  reconverted  into  work.  Thus, 
for  instance,  in  the  steam-engine  the  heat  can  only  be 
converted  into  mechanical  work  when  it  passes  from 
a  warmer  body  (steam)  into  a  cooler  (water) ;  the  proc- 
ess cannot  be  reversed.  In  the  world  at  large,  however, 
quite  other  conditions  obtain — conditions  which  per- 
mit the  reconversion  of  latent  heat  into  mechanical 
work.  For  instance,  in  the  collision  of  two  heavenly 
bodies,  which  rush  towards  each  other  at  inconceivable 
speed,  enormous  quantities  of  heat  are  liberated,  while 
the  pulverized  masses  are  hurled  and  scattered  about 
space.  The  eternal  drama  begins  afresh — the  rotat- 
ing mass,  the  condensation  of  its  parts,  the  formation 
of  new  meteorites,  their  combination  into  larger  bodies, 
and  so  on. 

II.— MONISTIC  GEOGENY 

The  history  of  the  earth,  of  which  we  are  now  going 
to  make  a  brief  survey,  is  only  a  minute  section  of  the 
history  of  the  cosmos.  Like  the  latter,  it  has  been  the 
object  of  philosophic  speculation  and  mythological  fan- 
tasy for  many  thousand  years.  Its  true  scientific  study, 
however,  is  much  younger;  it  belongs,  for  the  most 
part,  to  the  nineteenth  century.  The  fact  that  the 
earth  is  a  planet  revolving  round  the  sun  was  deter- 

248 


THE    EVOLUTION   OF    THE    WORLD 

mined  by  the  system  of  Copernicus  (1543);  Galilei, 
Kepler,  and  other  great  astronomers,  mathematically 
determined  its  distance  from  the  sun,  the  laws  of  its 
motion,  and  so  forth.  Kant  and  Laplace  indicated,, 
in  their  cosmogony,  the  way  in  which  the  earth  had 
been  developed  from  the  parent  sun.  But  the  later 
history  of  the  earth,  the  formation  of  its  crust,  the 
origin  of  its  seas  and  continents,  its  mountains  and 
deserts,  was  rarely  made  the  subject  of  serious  scien- 
tific research  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  in  the  first 
two  decades  of  the  nineteenth.  As  a  rule,  men  were 
satisfied  with  unreliable  conjectures  or  with  the  tradi- 
tional story  of  creation;  once  more  the  Mosaic  legend 
barred  the  way  to  an  independent  investigation. 

In  1822  an  important  work  appeared,  which  followed 
the  same  method  in  the  scientific  investigation  of  the 
history  of  the  earth  that  had  already  proved  the  most 
fertile — the  ontological  method,  or  the  principle  of  "act- 
ualism."  It  consists  in  a  careful  study  and  manipula- 
tion of  actual  phenomena  with  a  view  to  the  elucidation 
of  the  analogous  historical  processes  of  the  past.  The 
Society  of  Science  at  Gottingen  had  offered  a  prize  in 
1818  for  "the  most  searching  and  comprehensive  in- 
quiry into  the  changes  in  the  earth's  crust  which  are 
historically  demonstrable,  and  the  application  which 
may  be  made  of  a  knowledge  of  them  in  the  investi- 
gation of  the  terrestrial  revolutions  which  lie  beyond 
the  range  of  history."  This  prize  was  obtained  by 
Karl  Hoff ,  of  Gotha,  for  his  distinguished  work,  History 
of  the  Natural  Changes  in  the  Crust  of  the  Earth  in  the 
Light  of  Tradition  (1822-34).  Sir  Charles  Lyell  then 
applied  this  ontological  or  actualistic  method  with  great 
success  to  the  whole  province  of  geology;  his  Princi- 
ples of  Geology  (1830)  laid  the  firm  foundation  on  which 

249 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

the  fabric  of  the  history  of  the  earth  was  so  happily 
erected.  The  important  geogenetic  research  of  Alex- 
ander Humboldt,  Leopold  Buch,  Gustav  Bischof,  Ed- 
ward Siiss,  and  other  geologists,  were  wholly  based  on 
the  empirical  foundation  and  the  speculative  principles 
of  Karl  Hoff  and  Charles  Lyell.  They  cleared  the  way 
for  purely  rational  science  in  the  field  of  geology ;  they 
removed  the  obstacles  that  had  been  put  in  the  path 
by  mythological  fancy  and  religious  tradition,  espe- 
cially by  the  Bible  and  its  legends.  I  have  already  dis- 
cussed the  merits  of  Lyell,  and  his  relations  with  his 
friend  Charles  Darwin,  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
chapters  of  my  Natural  History  of  Creation,  and  must 
refer  the  reader  to  the  standard  works  on  geology  for 
a  further  acquaintance  with  the  history  of  the  earth 
and  the  great  progress  which  dynamical  and  historical 
geology  have  made  during  the  century. 

The  first  division  of  the  history  of  the  earth  must 
be  a  separation  of  inorganic  and  organic  geogeny; 
the  latter  begins  with  the  first  appearance  of  living 
things  on  our  planet.  The  earlier  section,  the  inor- 
ganic history  of  the  earth,  ran  much  the  same  course 
as  that  of  the  other  planets  of  our  system.  They  were 
all  cast  off  as  rings  of  nebula  at  the  equator  of  the  ro- 
tating solar  mass,  and  gradually  condensed  into  inde- 
pendent bodies.  After  cooling  down  a  little,  the  glow- 
ing ball  of  the  earth  was  formed  out  of  the  gaseous  mass, 
and  eventually,  as  the  heat  continued  to  radiate  out 
into  space,  there  was  formed  at  its  surface  the  thin  solid 
crust  on  which  we  live.  When  the  temperature  at  the 
surface  had  gone  down  to  a  certain  point,  the  water  de- 
scended upon  it  from  the  environing  clouds  of  steam, 
and  thus  the  first  condition  was  secured  for  the  rise  of 
organic  life,  Many  million  years  —  certainly  more 

250 


THE   EVOLUTION    OF   THE    WORLD 

than  a  hundred  —  have  passed  since  this  important 
process  of  the  formation  of  water  took  place,  introducing 
the  third  section  of  cosmogony,  which  we  call  biogeny. 


III.— MONISTIC  BIOGENY 

The  third  phase  of  the  evolution  of  the  world  opens 
with  the  advent  of  organisms  on  our  planet,  and  con- 
tinues uninterrupted  from  that  point  until  the  present 
day.  The  great  problems  which  this  most  interesting 
part  of  the  earth's  history  suggests  to  us  were  still 
thought  insoluble  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, or,  at  least,  so  difficult  hat  their  solution  seemed  to 
be  extremely  remote.  Now,  at  the  close  of  the  century, 
we  can  affirm  with  legitimate  pride  that  they  have  been 
substantially  solved  by  modern  biology  and  its  theory 
of  transf ormism ;  indeed,  many  of  the  phenomena  of 
the  organic  world  are  now  interpreted  on  physical  prin- 
ciples as  completely  as  the  familiar  physical  phenome- 
na of  inorganic  nature.  The  merit  of  making  the  first 
important  step  in  this  difficult  path  and  of  pointing  out 
the  way  to  the  monistic  solution  of  all  the  problems  of 
biology  must  be  accorded  to  the  great  French  scientist, 
Jean  Lamarck;  it  was  in  1809,  the  year  of  the  birth  of 
Charles  Darwin,  that  he  published  his  famous  Philo- 
sophie  Zoologique.  In  this  original  work  not  only  is 
a  splendid  effort  made  to  interpret  all  the  phenomena 
of  organic  life  from  a  monistic  and  physical  point  of 
view,  but  the  path  is  opened  which  alone  leads  to  the 
solution  of  the  greatest  enigma  of  this  branch  of  sci- 
ence— the  problem  of  the  natural  origin  of  organic  spe- 
cies. Lamarck,  who  had  an  equally  extensive  em- 
pirical acquaintance  with  zoology  and  botany,  drew 
the  first  sketch  of  the  theory  of  descent;  he  showed 

251 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

that  all  the  countless  members  of  the  plant  and  animal 
kingdoms  have  arisen  by  slow  transformation  from 
simple,  common  ancestral  types,  and  that  it  is  the 
gradual  modification  of  forms  by  adaptation,  in  recip- 
rocal action  with  heredity,  which  has  brought  about 
this  secular  metamorphosis. 

I  have  fully  appreciated  the  merit  of  Lamarck  in  the 
fifth  chapter,  and  of  Darwin  in  the  sixth  and  seventh 
chapters,  of  the  Natural  History  of  Creation.  Darwin, 
fifty  years  afterwards,  not  only  gave  a  solid  founda- 
tion to  all  the  essential  parts  of  the  theory  of  descent, 
but  he  filled  up  the  lacunae  of  Lamarck's  work  by  his 
theory  of  selection.  Darwin  reaped  abundantly  the 
success  that  Lamarck  had  never  seen,  with  all  his 
merit.  His  epoch-making  work  on  The  Origin  of  Spe- 
cies by  Natural  Selection  has  transformed  modern  biol- 
ogy from  its  very  foundations,  in  the  course  of  the  last 
forty  years,  and  has  raised  it  to  a  stage  of  development 
that  yields  to  no  other  science  in  existence.  Darwin  is 
the  Copernicus  of  the  organic  world,  as  I  said  in  1868, 
and  E.  du  Bois-Reymond  repeated  fifteen  years  after- 
wards.* 

IV.— MONISTIC  ANTHROPOGENY 

The  fourth  and  last  phase  of  the  world's  history  must 
be  for  us  men  that  latest  period  of  time  which  has  wit- 
nessed the  development  of  our  own  race.  Lamarck 
(1809)  had  already  recognized  that  this  evolution  is 
only  rationally  conceivable  c.s  the  outcome  of  a  natural 
process,  by  "descent  from  the  apes,"  our  next  of  kin 
among  the  mammals.  Huxley  then  proved,  in  his 
famous  essay  on  The  Place  of  Man  in  Nature,  that  this 

*  Cf .  Monism,  by  Ernst  Haeckel. 
252 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    THE    WORLD 

momentous  thesis  is  an  inevitable  consequence  of  the 
theory  of  descent,  and  is  thoroughly  established  by 
the  facts  of  anatomy,  embryology,  and  palaeontology. 
He  considered  this  "  question  of  all  questions"  to  be 
substantially  answered.  Darwin  followed  with  a  brill- 
iant discussion  of  the  question  under  many  aspects  in 
his  Descent  of  Man  (1871).  I  had  myself  devoted  a 
special  chapter  to  Lhis  important  problem  of  the  science 
of  evolution  in  my  General  Morphology  (1866).  In 
1874  I  published  my  Anthropogeny,  which  contains 
the  first  attempt  to  trace  the  descent  of  man  through 
the  entire  chain  of  his  ancestry  right  up  to  the  earliest 
archigonous  monera ;  the  attempt  was  based  equally 
on  the  three  great  "documents"  of  evolutionary  sci- 
ence— anatomy,  embryology,  and  palaeontology.  The 
progress  we  have  made  in  anthropogenetic  research 
during  the  last  few  years  is  described  in  the  paper 
which  I  read  on  "  Our  Present  Knowledge  of  the  Origin 
of  Man  "  at  the  International  Congress  of  Zoologists 
at  Cambridge  in  1898.* 

*  TJie  Last  Link,  translated  by  Dr.  Gadow. 

18 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  UNITY  OF  NATURE 

The  Monism  of  the  Cosmos  —  Essential  Unity  of  Organic  and  In- 
organic Nature  —  Carbon-Theory  —  The  Hypothesis  of  Abio- 
genesis  —  Mechanical  and  Purposive  Causes  —  Mechanicism 
and  Teleology  in  Kant's  Works  —  Design  in  the  Organic  and 
Inorganic  Worlds  —  Vitalism  —  Neovitalism  —  Dysteleology  (the 
Moral  of  the  Rudimentary  Organs)  —  Absence  of  Design  in, 
and  Imperfection  of,  Nature  —  Telic  Action  in  Organized  Bod- 
ies —  Its  Absence  in  Ontogeny  and  Phylogeny  —  The  Platonist 
*  Ideas  "  —  No  Moral  Order  Discoverable  in  the  History  of  the 
Organic  World,  of  the  Vertebrates,  or  of  the  Human  Race  — 
Prevision  —  Design  and  Chance 


of  the  first  things  to  be  proved  by  the  law  of 
substance  is  the  basic  fact  that  any  natural  force 
can  be  directly  or  indirectly  converted  into  any  other. 
Mechanical  and  chemical  energy,  sound  and  heat,  light 
and  electricity,  are  mutually  convertible;  they  seem 
to  be  but  different  modes  of  one  and  the  same  funda- 
mental force  or  energy.  Thence  follows  the  important 
thesis  of  the  unity  of  all  natural  forces,  or,  as  it  may 
also  be  expressed,  the  "monism  of  energy."  This  fun- 
damental principle  is  now  generally  recognized  in  the 
entire  province  of  physics  and  chemistry,  as  far  as  it 
applies  to  inorganic  substances. 

It  seems  to  be  otherwise  with  the  organic  world  and 
its  wealth  of  color  and  form.  It  is,  of  course,  obvious 
that  a  great  part  of  the  phenomena  of  life  may  be  im- 

254 


THE    UNITY    OF    NATURE 

mediately  traced  to  mechanical  and  chemical  energy, 
and  to  the  effects  of  electricity  and  light.  For  other 
vital  processes,  however,  especially  for  psychic  activity 
and  consciousness,  such  an  interpretation  is  vigorously 
contested.  Yet  the  modern  science  of  evolution  has 
achieved  the  task  of  constructing  a  bridge  between 
these  two  apparently  irreconcilable  provinces.  We  are 
now  certain  that  all  the  phenomena  of  organic  life  are 
subject  to  the  universal  law  of  substance  no  less  than 
the  phenomena  of  the  inorganic  universe. 

The  unity  of  nature  which  necessarily  follows,  and 
the  demolition  of  the  earlier  dualism,  are  certainly 
among  the  most  valuable  results  of  modern  evolution. 
Thirty-three  years  ago  I  made  an  exhaustive  effort  to 
establish  this  "  monism  of  the  cosmos  "  and  the  es- 
sential unity  of  organic  and  inorganic  nature  by  a 
thorough,  critical  demonstration,  and  a  comparison  of 
the  accordance  of  these  two  great  divisions  of  nature 
with  regard  to  matter,  form,  and  force.*  A  short  epit- 
ome of  the  result  is  given  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of 
my  Natural  History  of  Creation.  The  views  I  put 
forward  are  accepted  by  the  majority  of  modern  scien- 
tists, but  an  attempt  has  been  made  in  many  quarters 
lately  to  dispute  them  and  to  maintain  the  old  antith- 
esis of  the  two  divisions  of  nature.  The  ablest  of 
these  is  to  be  found  in  the  recent  Welt  als  That  of  the 
botanist  Reinke.  It  defends  pure  cosmological  dual- 
ism with  admirable  lucidity  and  consistency,  and  only 
goes  to  prove  how  utterly  untenable  the  teleological 
system  is  that  is  connected  therewith.  According  to 
the  author,  physical  and  chemical  forces  alone  are  at 
work  in  the  entire  field  of  inorganic  nature,  while  in 

*  General  Morphology,  book  2,  chap.  v. 
2SS 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

the  organic  world  we  find  "  intelligent  forces/'  regula- 
tive or  dominant  forces.  The  law  of  substance  is  sup- 
posed to  apply  to  the  one,  but  not  to  the  other.  On 
the  whole,  it  is  a  question  of  the  old  antithesis  of  a 
mechanical  and  a  teleological  system.  But  before  we 
go  more  fully  into  it,  let  us  glance  briefly  at  two  other 
theories,  which  seem  to  me  to  be  of  great  importance 
in  the  decision  of  that  controversy — the  carbon-theory 
and  the  theory  of  spontaneous  generation. 

Physiological  chemistry  has,  after  countless  analy- 
ses, established  the  following  five  facts  during  the  last 
forty  years : 

I.  No  other  elements  are  found  in  organic  bodies 
than  those  of  the  inorganic  world. 

II.  The  combinations  of  elements  which  are  pecu- 
liar to  organisms,  and  which  are  responsible  for  their 
vital   phenomena,    are   compound   protoplasmic   sub- 
stances, of  the  group  of  albuminates. 

III.  Organic  life  itself  is  a  chemico-physical  proc- 
ess, based  on  the  metabolism  (or  interchange  of  mate- 
rial) of  these  albuminates. 

IV.  The  only  element  which  is  capable  of  building 
up  these  compound  albuminates,  in  combination  with 
other  elements  (oxygen,  hydrogen,  nitrogen,  and  sul- 
phur), is  carbon. 

V.  These  protoplasmic   compounds   of  carbon  are 
distinguished  from  most  other  chemical  combinations 
by  their  very  intricate  molecular  structure,  their  insta- 
bility, and  their  jelly-like  consistency. 

On  the  basis  of  these  five  fundamental  facts  the  fol- 
lowing "  carbon-theory  "  was  erected  thirty-three  years 
ago :  "  The  peculiar  chemico-physical  properties  of 
carbon — especially  the  fluidity  and  the  facility  of  de- 
composition of  the  most  elaborate  albuminoid  com- 

256 


THE    UNITY   OF    NATURE 

pounds  of  carbon — are  the  sole  and  the  mechanical 
causes  of  the  specific  phenomena  of  movement,  which 
distinguish  organic  from  inorganic  substances,  and 
which  are  called  life,  in  the  usual  sense  of  the  word " 
(see  The  Natural  History  of  Creation).  Although  this 
"  carbon-theory  "  is  warmly  disputed  in  some  quarters, 
no  better  monistic  theory  has  yet  appeared  to  replace 
it.  We  have  now  a  much  better  and  more  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  physiological  relations  of  cell-life, 
and  of  the  chemistry  and  physics  of  the  living  proto- 
plasm, than  we  had  thirty-three  years  ago,  and  so  it  is 
possible  to  make  a  more  confident  and  effective  defence 
of  the  carbon-theory. 

The  old  idea  of  spontaneous  generation  is  now  taken 
in  many  different  senses.  It  is  owing  to  this  indis- 
tinctness of  the  idea,  and  its  application  to  so  many 
different  hypotheses,  that  the  problem  is  one  of  the  most 
contentious  and  confused  of  the  science  of  the  day.  I 
restrict  the  idea  of  spontaneous  generation — also  called 
abiogenesis  or  archigony — to  the  first  development  of 
living  protoplasm  out  of  inorganic  carbonates,  and  dis- 
tinguish two  phases  in  this  "  beginning  of  biogenesis" : 
(i)  autogony,  or  the  rise  of  the  simplest  protoplasmic 
substances  in  a  formative  fluid,  and  (2)  plasmogony, 
the  differentiation  of  individual  primitive  organisms 
out  of  these  protoplasmic  compounds,  in  the  form  of 
monera.  I  have  treated  this  important,  though  diffi- 
cult, problem  so  exhaustively  in  the  fifteenth  chap- 
ter of  my  Natural  History  of  Creation  that  I  may  con- 
tent myself  here  with  referring  to  it.  There  is  also  a 
very  searching  and  severely  scientific  inquiry  into  it 
in  my  General  Morphology  (1866).  Naegeli  has  also 
treated  the  hypothesis  in  quite  the  same  sense  in  his 
mechanico-physiological  theory  of  descent  (1884),  and 

257 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

has  represented  it  to  be  an  indispensable  thesis  in  any 
natural  theory  of  evolution.  I  entirely  agree  with  his 
assertion  that  "  to  reject  abiogenesis  is  to  admit  a  mir- 
acle." 

The  hypothesis  of  spontaneous  generation  and  the 
allied  carbon-theory  are  of  great  importance  in  deciding 
the  long-standing  conflict  between  the  Ideological  (du- 
alistic)  and  the  mechanical  (monistic)  interpretation 
of  phenomena.  Since  Darwin  gave  us  the  key  to  the 
monistic  explanation  of  organization  in  his  theory  of 
selection  forty  years  ago,  it  has  become  possible  for  us 
to  trace  the  splendid  variety  of  orderly  tendencies  of 
the  organic  world  to  mechanical,  natural  causes,  just 
as  we  could  formerly  in  the  inorganic  world  alone. 
Hence  the  supernatural  and  telic  forces,  to  which  the 
scientist  had  had  recourse,  have  been  rendered  super- 
fluous. Modern  metaphysics,  however,  continues  to 
regard  the  latter  as  indispensable  and  the  former  as 
inadequate. 

No  philosopher  has  done  more  than  Immanuel  Kant 
in  defining  the  profound  distinction  between  efficient 
and  final  causes,  with  relation  to  the  interpretation  of 
the  whole  cosmos.  In  his  well-known  earlier  work 
on  The  General  Natural  History  and  Theory  of  the 
Heavens  he  made  a  bold  attempt  "  to  treat  the  consti- 
tution and  the  mechanical  origin  of  the  entire  fabric 
of  the  universe  according  to  Newtonian  laws."  This 
"  cosmological  nebular  theory  "  was  based  entirely  on 
the  mechanical  phenomena  of  gravitation.  It  was  ex- 
panded and  mathematically  established  later  on  by 
Laplace.  When  the  famous  French  astronomer  was 
asked  by  Napoleon  I.  where  God,  the  creator  and  sus- 
tainer  of  all  things,  came  in  in  his  system,  he  clearly 
and  honestly  replied :  "  Sire,  I  have  managed  with- 


THE    UNITY    OF    NATURE 

out  that  hypothesis."  That  indicated  the  atheistic 
character  which  this  mechanical  cosmogony  shares 
with  all  the  other  inorganic  sciences.  This  is  the  more 
noteworthy  because  the  theory  of  Kant  and  Laplace 
is  now  almost  universally  accepted;  every  attempt  to 
supersede  it  has  failed.  When  atheism  is  denounced 
as  a  grave  reproach,  as  it  so  often  is,  it  is  well  to  remem- 
ber that  the  reproach  extends  to  the  whole  of  modern 
science,  in  so  far  as  it  gives  a  purely  mechanical  inter- 
pretation of  the  inorganic  world. 

Mechanicism  (in  the  Kantian  sense)  alone  can  give 
us  a  true  explanation  of  natural  phenomena,  for  it 
traces  them  to  their  real  efficient  causes,  to  blind  and 
unconscious  agencies,  which  are  determined  in  their 
action  only  by  the  material  constitution  of  the  bodies 
we  are  investigating.  Kant  himself  emphatically 
affirms  that  "  there  can  be  no  science  without  this  me- 
chanicism  of  nature,"  and  that  the  capacity  of  human 
reason  to  give  a  mechanical  interpretation  of  phenom- 
ena is  unlimited.  But  when  he  came  subsequently  to 
give  an  elucidation  of  the  complex  phenomena  of  or- 
ganic nature  in  his  critique  of  the  teleological  system, 
he  declared  that  these  mechanical  causes  were  inade- 
quate ;  that  in  this  we  must  call  final  causes  to  our  as- 
sistance. It  is  true,  he  said,  that  even  here  we  must 
recognize  the  theoretical  faculty  of  the  mind  to  give  a 
mechanical  interpretation,  but  its  actual  competence 
to  do  so  is  restricted.  He  grants  it  this  capacity  to 
some  extent ;  but  for  the  majority  of  the  vital  processes 
(and  especially  for  man's  psychic  activity)  he  thinks  we 
are  bound  to  postulate  final  causes.  The  remarkable 
§79  of  the  critique  of  judgment  bears  the  character- 
istic heading :  "  On  the  Necessity  for  the  Subordi- 
nation of  the  Mechanical  Principle  to  the  Teleological 

259 


THE   RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

in  the  Explanation  of  a  Thing  as  a  Natural  End."  It 
seemed  to  Kant  so  impossible  to  explain  the  orderly 
processes  in  the  living  organism  without  postulating 
supernatural  final  causes  (that  is,  a  purposive  creative 
force)  that  he  said :  "  It  is  quite  certain  that  we  cannot 
even  satisfactorily  understand,  much  less  elucidate, 
the  nature  of  an  organism  and  its  internal  faculty  on 
purely  mechanical  natural  principles ;  it  is  so  certain, 
indeed,  that  we  may  confidently  say,  '  It  is  absurd  for 
a  man  to  conceive  the  idea  even  that  some  day  a  New- 
ton will  arise  who  can  explain  the  origin  of  a  single 
blade  of  grass  by  natural  laws  which  are  uncontrolled 
by  design' — such  a  hope  is  entirely  forbidden  us." 
Seventy  years  afterwards  this  impossible  "  Newton  of 
the  organic  world  "  appeared  in  the  person  of  Charles 
Darwin,  and  achieved  the  great  task  that  Kant  had 
deemed  impracticable. 

Since  Newton  (1682)  formulated  the  law  of  gravi- 
tation, and  Kant  (1755)  established  "  the  constitution 
and  mechanical  origin  of  the  entire  fabric  of  the  world 
on  Newtonian  laws,"  and  Laplace  (1796)  provided  a 
mathematical  foundation  for  this  law  of  cosmic  me- 
chanicism,  the  whole  of  the  inorganic  sciences  have  be- 
come purely  mechanical,  and  at  the  same  time  purely 
atheistic.  Astronomy,  cosmogony,  geology,  meteor- 
ology, and  inorganic  physics  and  chemistry  are  now  ab- 
solutely ruled  by  mechanical  laws  on  a  mathematical 
foundation.  The  idea  of  " design"  has  wholly  disap- 
peared from  this  vast  province  of  science.  At  the  close 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  now  that  this  monistic  view 
has  fought  its  way  to  general  recognition,  no  scientist 
ever  asks  seriously  of  the  "  purpose "  of  any  single 
phenomenon  in  the  whole  of  this  great  field.  Is  any 
astronomer  likely  to  inquire  seriously  to-day  into  the 

260 


THE    UNITY    OF   NATURE 

purpose  of  planetary  motion,  or  a  mineralogist  to  seek 
design  in  the  structure  of  a  crystal?  Does  the  phys- 
icist investigate  the  purpose  of  electric  force,  or  the 
chemist  that  of  atomic  weight?  We  may  confidently 
answer  in  the  negative  —  certainly  not,  in  the  sense 
that  God,  or  a  purposive  natural  force,  had  at  some 
time  created  these  fundamental  laws  of  the  mechan- 
ism of  the  universe  with  a  definite  design,  and  causes 
them  to  work  daily  in  accordance  with  his  rational 
will.  The  anthropomorphic  notion  of  a  deliberate 
architect  and  ruler  of  the  world  has  gone  forever  from 
this  field;  the  "eternal,  iron  laws  of  nature"  have 
taken  his  place. 

But  the  idea  of  design  has  a  very  great  significance 
and  application  in  the  organic  world.  We  do  undeni- 
ably perceive  a  purpose  in  the  structure  and  in  the  life 
of  an  organism.  The  plant  and  the  animal  seem  to  be 
controlled  by  a  definite  design  in  the  combination  of 
their  several  parts,  just  as  clearly  as  we  see  in  the  ma- 
chines which  man  invents  and  constructs ;  as  long  as 
life  continues  the  functions  of  the  several  organs  are 
directed  to  definite  ends,  just  as  is  the  operation  of  the 
various  parts  of  a  machine.  Hence  it  was  quite  nat- 
ural that  the  older  nai*  ve  study  of  nature,  in  explaining 
the  origin  and  activity  of  the  living  being,  should  pos- 
tulate a  creator  who  had  "arranged  all  things  with 
wisdom  and  understanding,"  and  had  constructed  each 
plant  and  animal  according  to  the  special  purpose  of 
its  life.  The  conception  of  this  "almighty  creator  of 
heaven  and  earth"  was  usually  quite  anthropomor- 
phic ;  he  created  "  everything  after  its  kind."  As  long 
as  the  creator  seemed  to  man  to  be  of  human  shape,  to 
think  with  his  brain,  see  with  his  eyes,  and  fashion 
with  his  hands,  it  was  possible  to  form  a  definite  pict- 

261 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

ure  of  this  "divine  engineer"  and  his  artistic  work  in 
the  great  workshop  of  creation.  This  was  not  so  easy 
when  the  idea  of  God  became  refined,  and  man  saw  in 
his  "invisible  God"  a  creator  without  organs — a  gas- 
eous being.  Still  more  unintelligible  did  these  anthro- 
pomorphic ideas  become  when  physiology  substituted 
for  the  conscious,  divine  architect  an  unconscious, 
creative  "vital  force" — a  mysterious,  purposive,  nat- 
ural force,  which  differed  from  the  familiar  forces  of 
physics  and  chemistry,  and  only  took  these  in  part, 
during  life,  into  its  service.  This  vitalism  prevailed 
until  about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Johannes  Miiller,  the  great  Berlin  physiologist,  was 
the  first  to  menace  it  with  a  destructive  dose  of  facts. 
It  is  true  that  the  distinguished  biologist  had  him- 
self (like  all  others  in  the  first  half  of  the  century) 
been  educated  in  a  belief  in  this  vital  force,  and 
deemed  it  indispensable  for  an  elucidation  of  the  ulti- 
mate sources  of  life;  nevertheless,  in  his  classical  and 
still  unrivalled  Manual  of  Physiology  (1833)  he  gave  a 
demonstrative  proof  that  there  is  really  nothing  to  be 
said  for  this  vital  force.  Miiller  himself,  in  a  long 
series  of  remarkable  observations  and  experiments, 
showed  that  most  of  the  vital  processes  in  the  human 
organism  (and  in  the  other  animals)  take  place  ac- 
cording to  physical  and  chemical  laws,  and  that  many 
of  them  are  capable  of  mathematical  determination. 
That  was  no  less  true  of  the  animal  functions  of  the 
muscles  and  nerves,  and  of  both  the  higher  and  the 
lower  sense-organs,  than  of  the  vegetal  functions  of 
digestion,  assimilation,  and  circulation.  Only  two 
branches  of  the  life  of  the  organism,  mental  action  and 
reproduction,  retained  any  element  of  mystery,  and 
seemed  inexplicable  without  assuming  a  vital  force. 

262 


THE    UNITY    OF    NATURE 

But  immediately  after  Mullet's  death  such  important 
discoveries  and  advances  were  made  in  these  two 
branches  that  the  uneasy  "phantom  of  vital  force" 
was  driven  from  its  last  refuge.  By  a  very  remarkable 
coincidence  Johannes  Miiller  died  in  the  year  1858, 
which  saw  the  publication  of  Darwin's  first  communi- 
cation concerning  his  famous  theory.  The  theory  of 
selection  solved  the  great  problem  that  had  mastered 
Miiller — the  question  of  the  origin  of  orderly  arrange- 
ments from  purely  mechanical  causes. 

Darwin,  as  we  have  often  said,  had  a  twofold  im- 
mortal merit  in  the  field  of  philosophy — firstly,  the 
reform  of  Lamarck's  theory  of  descent,  and  its  estab- 
lishment on  the  mass  of  facts  accumulated  in  the 
course  of  the  half-century;  secondly,  the  conception 
of  the  theory  of  selection,  which  first  revealed  to  us  the 
true  causes  of  the  gradual  formation  of  species.  Dar- 
win was  the  first  to  point  out  that  the  "struggle  for 
life  "  is  the  unconscious  regulator  which  controls  the 
reciprocal  action  of  heredity  and  adaptation  in  the 
gradual  transformation  of  species;  it  is  the  great  "se- 
lective divinity"  which,  by  a  purely  "natural  choice," 
without  preconceived  design,  creates  new  forms,  just 
as  selective  man  creates  new  types  by  an  "artificial 
choice  "  with  a  definite  design.  That  gave  us  the  solu- 
tion of  the  great  philosophic  problem :  "  How  can  pur- 
posive contrivances  be  produced  by  purely  mechanical 
processes  without  design?"  Kant  held  the  problem  to 
be  insoluble,  although  Empedocles  had  pointed  out  the 
direction  of  the  solution  two  thousand  years  before. 
His  principle  of  "  teleological  mechanism"  has  become 
more  and  more  accepted  of  late  years,  and  has  fur- 
nished a  mechanical  explanation  even  of  the  finest  and 
most  recondite  processes  of  organic  life  by  "  the  f unc- 

263 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

tional  self-production  of  the  purposive  structure."  Thus 
have  we  got  rid  of  the  transcendental  "design"  of  the 
teleological  philosophy  of  the  schools,  which  was  the 
greatest  obstacle  to  the  growth  of  a  rational  and  mon- 
istic conception  of  nature. 

Very  recently,  however,  this  ancient  phantom  of  a 
mystic  vital  force,  which  seemed  to  be  effectually  ban- 
ished, has  put  in  a  fresh  appearance ;  a  number  of  dis- 
tinguished biologists  have  attempted  to  reintroduce  it 
under  another  name.  The  clearest  presentation  of  it 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Welt  als  That,  of  the  Kiel  botanist, 
J.  Reinke.  He  takes  upon  himself  the  defence  of  the 
notion  of  miracle,  of  theism,  of  the  Mosaic  story  of 
creation,  and  of  the  constancy  of  species;  he  calls 
"vital  forces,"  in  opposition  to  physical  forces,  the  di- 
rective or  dominant  forces.  Other  neovitalists  prefer, 
in  the  good  old  anthropomorphic  style,  a  "supreme" 
engineer,  who  has  endowed  organic  substance  with  a 
purposive  structure,  directed  to  the  realization  of  a 
definite  plan.  These  curious  teleological  hypotheses, 
and  the  objections  to  Darwinism  which  generally  ac- 
company them,  do  not  call  for  serious  scientific  refu- 
tation to-day. 

Thirty-three  years  ago  I  gave  the  title  of  "dystele- 
ology"  to  the  science  of  those  extremely  interesting 
and  significant  biological  facts,  which,  in  the  most 
striking  fashion,  give  a  direct  contradiction  to  the  tele- 
ological idea  "  of  the  purposive  arrangement  of  the  liv- 
ing organism."  *  This  "science  of  rudimentary,  abor- 
tive, arrested,  distorted,  atrophied,  and  cataplastic  in- 
dividuals" is  based  on  an  immense  quantity  of  remark- 
able phenomena,  which  were  long  familiar  to  zoologists 

*  Cf .  General  Morphology,  vol.  ii.,  and  The  Natural  History  of 
Creation. 

264 


THE   UNITY   OF    NATURE 

and  botanists,  but  were  not  properly  interpreted,  and 
their  great  philosophic  significance  appreciated,  until 
Darwin. 

All  the  higher  animals  and  plants,  or,  in  general, 
all  organisms  which  are  not  entirely  simple  in  structure, 
but  are  made  up  of  a  number  of  organs  in  orderly  co- 
operation, are  found,  on  close  examination,  to  possess 
a  number  of  useless  or  inoperative  members,  sometimes, 
indeed,  hurtful  and  dangerous.  In  the  flowers  of  most 
plants  we  find,  besides  the  actual  sex-leaves  that  effect 
reproduction,  a  number  of  other  leaf-organs  which  have 
no  use  or  meaning  (arrested  or  "miscarried"  pistils, 
fruit,  corona,  and  calix-leaves,  etc.).  In  the  two  large 
and  variegated  classes  of  flying  animals,  birds  and 
insects,  there  are,  besides  the  forms  which  make  con- 
stant use  of  their  wings,  a  number  of  species  which 
have  undeveloped  wings  and  cannot  fly.  In  nearly 
every  class  of  the  higher  animals  which  have  eyes  there 
are  certain  types  that  live  in  the  dark ;  they  have  eyes, 
as  a  rule,  but  undeveloped  and  useless  for  vision.  In 
our  own  human  organism  we  have  similar  useless 
rudimentary  structures  in  the  muscles  of  the  ear,  in 
the  eye-lid,  in  the  nipple  and  milk-gland  of  the  male, 
and  in  other  parts  of  the  body ;  indeed,  the  vermiform 
appendix  of  our  ca3cum  is  not  only  useless,  but  ex- 
tremely dangerous,  and  inflammation  of  it  is  respon- 
sible for  a  number  of  deaths  every  year. 

Neither  the  old  mystic  vitalism  nor  the  new,  equally 
irrational,  neovitalism  can  give  any  explanation  of 
these  and  many  other  purposeless  contrivances  in  the 
structure  of  the  plant  and  the  animal ;  but  they  are  very 
simple  in  the  light  of  the  theory  of  descent.  It  shows 
that  these  rudimentary  organs  are  atrophied,  owing 
to  disuse.  Just  as  our  muscles,  nerves,  and  organs 

265 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

of  sense  are  strengthened  by  exercise  and  frequent  use, 
so,  on  the  other  hand,  they  are  liable  to  degenerate  more 
or  less  by  disuse  or  suspended  exercise.  But,  although 
the  development  of  the  organs  is  promoted  by  exercise 
and  adaptation,  they  by  no  means  disappear  without 
leaving  a  trace  after  neglect;  the  force  of  heredity 
retains  them  for  many  generations,  and  only  per- 
mits their  gradual  disappearance  after  the  lapse  of  a 
considerable  time.  The  blind  "  struggle  for  existence 
between  the  organs"  determines  their  historical  dis- 
appearance, just  as  it  effected  their  first  origin  and  de- 
velopment. There  is  no  internal  "purpose"  whatever 
in  the  drama. 

The  life  of  the  animal  and  the  plant  bears  the  same 
universal  character  of  incompleteness  as  the  life  of 
man.  This  is  directly  attributable  to  the  circumstance 
that  nature — organic  as  well  as  inorganic — is  in  a  per- 
ennial state  of  evolution,  change,  and  transformation. 
This  evolution  seems  on  the  whole — at  least  as  far  as 
we  can  survey  the  development  of  organic  life  on  our 
planet — to  be  a  progressive  improvement,  an  historical 
advance  from  the  simple  to  the  complex,  the  lower  to 
the  higher,  the  imperfect  to  the  perfect.  I  have  proved 
in  my  General  Morphology  that  this  historical  progress 
— or  gradual  perfecting  (teleosis) — is  the  inevitable  re- 
sult of  selection,  and  not  the  outcome  of  a  preconceived 
design.  That  is  clear  from  the  fact  that  no  organism 
is  perfect;  even  if  it  does  perfectly  adapt  itself  to  its 
environment  at  a  given  moment,  this  condition  would 
not  last  very  long;  the  conditions  of  existence  of  the 
environment  are  themselves  subject  to  perpetual  change 
and  they  thus  necessitate  a  continuous  adaptation  on 
the  part  of  the  organism. 

Under  the  title  of  Design  in  the  Living  Organism, 
266 


THE    UNITY    OF    NATURE 

the  famous  embryologist,  Karl  Ernst  Baer,  published 
a  work  in  1876  which,  together  with  the  article  on  Dar- 
winism which  accompanied  it,  proved  very  acceptable 
to  our  opponents,  and  is  still  much  quoted  in  opposition 
to  evolution.  It  was  a  revival  of  the  old  teleological 
system  under  a  new  name,  and  we  must  devote  a  line 
of  criticism  to  it.  We  must  premise  that,  though  Baer 
was  a  scientist  of  the  highest  order,  his  original  monis- 
tic views  were  gradually  marred  by  a  tinge  of  mysti- 
cism with  the  advance  of  age,  and  he  eventually  be- 
came a  thorough  dualist.  In  his  profound  work  on 
"the  evolution  of  animals"  (1828),  which  he  himself 
entitled  Observation  and  Experiment,  these  two  methods 
of  investigation  are  equally  applied.  By  careful  ob- 
servation of  the  various  phenomena  of  the  development 
of  the  animal  ovum  Baer  succeeded  in  giving  the  first 
consistent  presentation  of  the  remarkable  changes  which 
take  place  in  the  growth  of  the  vertebrate  from  a  simple 
egg-cell.  At  the  same  time  he  endeavored,  by  far-see- 
ing comparison  and  keen  reflection,  to  learn  the  causes 
of  the  transformation,  and  to  reduce  them  to  general 
constructive  laws.  He  expressed  the  general  result  of 
his  research  in  the  following  thesis :  "  The  evolution  of 
the  individual  is  the  story  of  the  growth  of  individual- 
ity in  every  respect."  He  meant  that  "  the  one  great 
thought  that  controls  all  the  different  aspects  of  ani- 
mal evolution  is  the  same  that  gathered  the  scattered 
fragments  of  space  into  spheres  and  linked  them  into 
solar  systems.  This  thought  is  no  other  than  life  it- 
self, and  the  words  and  syllables  in  which  it  finds 
utterance  are  the  varied  forms  of  living  things." 

Baer,  however,  did  not  attain  to  a  deeper  knowledge 
of  this  great  genetic  truth  and  a  clearer  insight  into 
the  real  efficient  causes  of  organic  evolution,  because 

267 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

his  attention  was  exclusively  given  to  one  half  of  evo- 
lutionary science,  the  science  of  the  evolution  of  the 
individual,  embryology,  or,  in  a  wider  sense,  ontogeny. 
The  other  half,  the  science  of  the  evolution  of  species, 
phytogeny,  was  not  yet  in  existence,  although  Lamarck 
had  already  pointed  out  the  way  to  it  in  1809.  When 
it  was  established  by  Darwin  in  1859,  the  aged  Baer 
was  no  longer  in  a  position  to  appreciate  it ;  the  fruit- 
less struggle  which  he  led  against  the  theory  of  selec- 
tion clearly  proved  that  he  understood  neither  its  real 
meaning  nor  its  philosophic  importance.  Teleological 
and,  subsequently,  theological  speculations  had  inca- 
pacitated the  ageing  scientist  from  appreciating  this 
greatest  reform  of  biology.  The  teleological  observa- 
tions which  he  published  against  it  in  his  Species  and 
Studies  in  his  eighty-fouth  year  are  mere  repetitions 
of  errors  which  the  teleology  of  the  dualists  has  opposed 
to  the  mechanical  or  monistic  system  for  more  than 
two  thousand  years.  The  "telic  idea"  which,  accord- 
ing to  Baer,  controls  the  entire  evolution  of  the  ani- 
mal from  the  ovum,  is  only  another  expression  for  the 
eternal  "  idea "  of  Plato  and  the  entelecheia  of  his  pupil 
Aristotle. 

Our  modern  biogeny  gives  a  purely  physiological  ex- 
planation of  the  facts  of  embryology,  in  assigning  the 
functions  of  heredity  and  adaptation  as  their  causes. 
The  great  biogenetic  law,  which  Baer  failed  to  appre- 
ciate, reveals  the  intimate  causal  connection  between 
the  ontogenesis  of  the  individual  and  the  phylogenesis 
of  its  ancestors;  the  former  seems  to  be  a  recapitula- 
tion of  the  latter.  Nowhere,  however,  in  the  evolution 
of  animals  and  plants  do  we  find  any  trace  of  design, 
but  merely  the  inevitable  outcome  of  the  struggle  for 
existence,  the  blind  controller,  instead  of  the  provident 

268 


THE    UNITY    OF    NATURE 

God,  that  effects  the  changes  of  organic  forms  by  a  mu- 
tual action  of  the  laws  of  heredity  and  adaptation.  And 
there  is  no  more  trace  of  "  design "  in  the  embryology 
of  the  individual  plant,  animal,  or  man.  This  ontogeny 
is  but  a  brief  epitome  of  phylogeny,  an  abbreviated  and 
condensed  recapitulation  of  it,  determined  by  the  physi- 
ological laws  of  heredity. 

Baer  ended  the  preface  to  his  classical  Evolution  of 
Animals  (1828)  with  these  words :  "  The  palm  will  be 
awarded  to  the  fortunate  scientist  who  succeeds  in  re- 
ducing the  constructive  forces  of  the  animal  body  to 
the  general  forces  or  life-processes  of  the  entire  world. 
The  tree  has  not  yet  been  planted  which  is  to  make  his 
cradle."  The  great  embryologist  erred  once  more. 
That  very  year,  1828,  witnessed  the  arrival  of  Charles 
Darwin  at  Cambridge  University  (for  the  purpose  of 
studying  theology!)  —  the  "fortunate  scientist"  who 
richly  earned  the  palm  thirty  years  afterwards  by  his 
theory  of  selection. 

In  the  philosophy  of  history — that  is,  in  the  general 
reflections  which  historians  make  on  the  destinies  of 
nations  and  the  complicated  course  of  political  evolu- 
tion— there  still  prevails  the  notion  of  a  "  moral  order 
of  the  universe."  Historians  seek  in  the  vivid  drama 
of  history  a  leading  design,  an  ideal  purpose,  which 
has  ordained  one  or  other  race  or  state  to  a  special  tri- 
umph, and  to  dominion  over  the  others.  This  teleo- 
logical  view  of  history  has  recently  become  more  strong- 
ly contrasted  with  our  monistic  view  in  proportion  as 
monism  has  proved  to  be  the  only  possible  interpreta- 
tion of  inorganic  nature.  Throughout  the  whole  of 
astronomy,  geology,  physics,  and  chemistry  there  is  no 
question  to-day  of  a  "  moral  order,"  or  a  personal  God, 
whose  "  hand  hath  disposed  all  things  in  wisdom  and 
19  269 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

understanding."  And  the  same  must  be  said  of  the 
entire  field  of  biology,  the  whole  constitution  and  his- 
tory of  organic  nature,  if  we  set  aside  the  question  of 
man  for  the  moment.  Darwin  has  not  only  proved  by 
his  theory  of  selection  that  the  orderly  processes  in  the 
life  and  structure  of  animals  and  plants  have  arisen 
by  mechanical  laws  without  any  preconceived  design, 
but  he  has  shown  us  in  the  "  struggle  for  life  "  the  pow- 
erful natural  force  which  has  exerted  supreme  control 
over  the  entire  course  of  organic  evolution  for  millions 
of  years.  It  may  be  said  that  the  struggle  for  life 
is  the  "survival  of  the  fittest"  or  the  "victory  of  the 
best " ;  that  is  only  correct  when  we  regard  the  strong- 
est as  the  best  (in  a  moral  sense).  Moreover,  the 
whole  history  of  the  organic  world  goes  to  prove 
that,  besides  the  predominant  advance  towards  per- 
fection, there  are  at  all  times  cases  of  retrogression  to 
lower  stages.  Even  Baer's  notion  of  "design"  has  no 
moral  feature  whatever. 

Do  we  find  a  different  state  of  things  in  the  history 
of  peoples,  which  man,  in  his  anthropocentric  presump- 
tion, loves  to  call  "the  history  of  the  world"?  Do  we 
find  in  every  phase  of  it  a  lofty  moral  principle  or  a  wise 
ruler,  guiding  the  destinies  of  nations?  There  can  be 
but  one  answer  in  the  present  advanced  stage  of  nat- 
ural and  human  history :  No.  The  fate  of  those  branch- 
es of  the  human  family,  those  nations  and  races  which 
have  struggled  for  existence  and  progress  for  thou- 
sands of  years,  is  determined  by  the  same  "eternal 
laws  of  iron"  as  the  history  of  the  whole  organic  world 
which  has  peopled  the  earth  for  millions  of  years. 

Geologists  distinguish  three  great  epochs  in  the  or- 
ganic history  of  the  earth,  as  far  as  we  can  read  it  in 
the  monuments  of  the  science  of  fossils — the  primary, 

270 


THE    UNITY   OF    NATURE 

secondary,  and  tertiary  epochs.  According  to  a  recent 
calculation,  the  first  occupied  at  least  thirty-four  mill- 
ion, the  second  eleven  million,  and  the  third  three 
million  years.  The  history  of  the  family  of  vertebrates, 
from  which  our  own  race  has  sprung,  unfolds  clearly 
before  our  eyes  during  this  long  period.  Three  differ- 
ent stages  in  the  evolution  of  the  vertebrate  correspond 
to  the  three  epochs ;  the  fishes  characterized  the  pri- 
mary (palaeozoic)  age,  the  reptiles  the  secondary  (meso- 
zoic),  and  the  mammals  the  tertiary  (caenozoic).  Of  the 
three  groups  the  fishes  rank  lowest  in  organization, 
the  reptiles  come  next,  and  the  mammals  take  the 
highest  place.  We  find,  on  nearer  examination  of  the 
history  of  the  three  classes,  that  their  various  orders 
and  families  also  advanced  progressively  during  the 
three  epochs  towards  a  higher  stage  of  perfection. 
May  we  consider  this  progressive  development  as  the 
outcome  of  a  conscious  design  or  a  moral  order  of 
the  universe?  Certainly  not.  The  theory  of  selection 
teaches  us  that  this  organic  progress,  like  the  earlier 
organic  differentiation,  is  an  inevitable  consequence  of 
the  struggle  for  existence.  Thousands  of  beautiful  and 
remarkable  species  of  animals  and  plants  have  per- 
ished during  those  forty-eight  million  years,  to  give 
place  to  stronger  competitors,  and  the  victors  in  this 
struggle  for  life  were  not  always  the  noblest  or  most 
perfect  forms  in  a  moral  sense. 

It  has  been  just  the  same  with  the  history  of  human- 
ity. The  splendid  civilization  of  classical  antiquity 
perished  because  Christianity,  with  its  faith  in  a  loving 
God  and  its  hope  of  a  better  life  beyond  the  grave,  gave 
a  fresh,  strong  impetus  to  the  soaring  human  mind. 
The  Papal  Church  quickly  degenerated  into  a  pitiful 
caricature  of  real  Christianity,  and  ruthlessly  scattered 

271 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

the  treasures  of  knowledge  which  the  Hellenic  philos- 
ophy had  gathered ;  it  gained  the  dominion  of  the  world 
through  the  ignorance  of  the  credulous  masses.  In 
time  the  Reformation  broke  the  chains  of  this  mental 
slavery,  and  assisted  reason  to  secure  its  right  once 
more.  But  in  the  new,  as  in  the  older,  period  the  great 
struggle  for  existence  went  on  in  its  eternal  fluctuation, 
with  no  trace  of  a  moral  order. 

And  it  is  just  as  impossible  for  the  impartial  and  crit- 
ical observer  to  detect  a  "  wise  providence  "  in  the  fate 
of  individual  human  beings  as  a  moral  order  in  the  his- 
tory of  peoples.  Both  are  determined  with  iron  neces- 
sity by  a  mechanical  causality  which  connects  every 
single  phenomenon  with  one  or  more  antecedent  causes. 
Even  the  ancient  Greeks  recognized  ananke,  the  blind 
heimarmene,  the  fate  "that  rules  gods  and  men,"  as 
the  supreme  principle  of  the  universe.  Christianity  re- 
placed it  by  a  conscious  Providence,  which  is  not  blind, 
but  sees,  and  which  governs  the  world  in  patriarchal 
fashion.  The  anthropomorphic  character  of  this  no- 
tion, generally  closely  connected  with  belief  in  a  per- 
sonal God,  is  quite  obvious.  Belief  in  a  "  loving  Fa- 
ther," who  unceasingly  guides  the  destinies  of  one  bill- 
ion five  hundred  million  men  on  our  planet,  and  is 
attentive  at  all  times  to  their  millions  of  contradictory 
prayers  and  pious  wishes,  is  absolutely  impossible; 
that  is  at  once  perceived  on  laying  aside  the  colored 
spectacles  of  "  faith "  and  reflecting  rationally  on  the 
subject. 

As  a  rule,  this  belief  in  Providence  and  the  tutelage 
of  a  "loving  Father"  is  more  intense  in  the  modern 
civilized  man — just  as  in  the  uncultured  savage— when 
some  good  fortune  has  fallen  him:  an  escape  from 
peril  of  life,  recovery  from  a  severe  illness,  the  winning 

272 


THE    UNITY    OF    NATURE 

of  the  first  prize  in  a  lottery,  the  birth  of  a  long-delayed 
child,  and  so  forth.  When,  on  the  other  hand,  a  mis- 
fortune is  met  with,  or  an  ardent  wish  is  not  fulfilled, 
"  Providence "  is  forgotten.  The  wise  ruler  of  the 
world  slumbered — or  refused  his  blessing. 

In  the  extraordinary  development  of  commerce  of  the 
nineteenth  century  the  number  of  catastrophes  and 
accidents  has  necessarily  increased  beyond  all  imagi- 
nation ;  of  that  the  journal  is  a  daily  witness.  Thou- 
sands are  killed  every  year  by  shipwreck,  railway 
accidents,  mine  accidents,  etc.  Thousands  slay  each 
other  every  year  in  war,  and  the  preparation  for  this 
wholesale  massacre  absorbs  much  the  greater  part  of 
the  revenue  in  the  highest  civilized  nations,  the  chief 
professors  of  "Christian  charity."  And  among  these 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  annual  victims  of  modern 
civilization  strong,  industrious,  courageous  workers 
predominate.  Yet  the  talk  of  a  "moral  order"  goes  on. 

Since  impartial  study  of  the  evolution  of  the  world 
teaches  us  that  there  is  no  definite  aim  and  no  special 
purpose  to  be  traced  in  it,  there  seems  to  be  no  alterna- 
tive but  to  leave  everything  to  "  blind  chance."  This 
reproach  has  been  made  to  the  transformism  of  La- 
marck and  Darwin,  as  it  had  been  to  the  previous 
systems  of  Kant  and  Laplace ;  there  are  a  number  of 
dualist  philosophers  who  lay  great  stress  on  it.  It  is, 
therefore,  worth  while  to  make  a  brief  remark  upon  it. 

One  group  of  philosophers  affirms,  in  accordance 
with  its  teleological  conception,  that  the  whole  cosmos 
is  an  orderly  system,  in  which  every  phenomenon  has 
its  aim  and  purpose ;  there  is  no  such  thing  as  chance. 
The  other  group,  holding  a  mechanical  theory,  ex- 
presses itself  thus:  The  development  of  the  universe 
is  a  monistic  mechanical  process,  in  which  we  discover 

273 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

no  aim  or  purpose  whatever;  what  we  call  design  in 
the  organic  world  is  a  special  result  of  biological  agen- 
cies; neither  in  the  evolution  of  the  heavenly  bodies 
nor  in  that  of  the  crust  of  our  earth  do  we  find  any  trace 
of  a  controlling  purpose — all  is  the  result  of  chance. 
Each  party  is  right — according  to  its  definition  of 
chance.  The  general  law  of  causality,  taken  in  con- 
junction with  the  law  of  substance,  teaches  us  that 
every  phenomenon  has  a  mechanical  cause;  in  this 
sense  there  is  no  such  thing  as  chance.  Yet  it  is  not 
only  lawful,  but  necessary,  to  retain  the  term  for  the 
purpose  of  expressing  the  simultaneous  occurrence  of 
two  phenomena,  which  are  not  causally  related  to  each 
other,  but  of  which  each  has  its  own  mechanical  cause, 
independent  of  that  of  the  other.  Everybody  knows 
that  chance,  in  its  monistic  sense,  plays  an  important 
part  in  the  life  of  man  and  in  the  universe  at  large. 
That,  however,  does  not  prevent  us  from  recognizing 
in  each  " chance"  event,  as  we  do  in  the  evolution  of 
the  entire  cosmos,  the  universal  sovereignty  of  nat- 
ure's supreme  law,  the  law  of  substance. 


CHAPTER  XV 
GOD  AND  THE   WORLD 

The  Idea  of  God  in  General — Antithesis  of  God  and  the  World; 
the  Supernatural  and  Nature — Theism  and  Pantheism — 
Chief  Forms  of  Theism — Polytheism — Tritheism — Ampithe- 
ism — Monotheism — Religious  Statistics — Naturalistic  Mono- 
theism— Solarism — Anthropistic  Monotheism — The  Three 
Great  Mediterranean  Religions — Mosaism — Christianity — 
The  Cult  of  the  Madonna  and  the  Saints — Papal  Polytheism 
— Islam — Mixotheism — Nature  of  Theism — An  Extramun- 
dane  and  Anthropomorphic  God ;  a  Gaseous  Vertebrate — 
Pantheism — Intramundane  God  (Nature) — The  Hylozoism  of 
the  Ionic  Monists  (Anaximander) — Conflict  of  Pantheism  and 
Christianity — Spinoza — Modern  Monism — Atheism 

COR  thousands  of  years  humanity  has  placed  the 
last  and  supreme  basis  of  all  phenomena  in  an 
efficient  cause,  to  which  it  gives  the  title  of  God  (deus, 
theos).  Like  all  general  ideas,  this  notion  of  God  has 
undergone  a  series  of  remarkable  modifications  and 
transformations  in  the  course  of  the  evolution  of  rea- 
son. Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  no  other  idea  has  had 
so  many  metamorphoses ;  for  no  other  belief  affects  in 
so  high  a  degree  the  chief  objects  of  the  mind  and  of 
rational  science,  as  well  as  the  deepest  interests  of  the 
emotion  and  poetic  fancy  of  the  believer. 

A  comparative  criticism  of  the  many  different  forms 
of  the  idea  of  God  would  be  extremely  interesting  and 
instructive ;  but  we  have  not  space  for  it  in  the  present 

275 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

work.  We  must  be  content  with  a  passing  -glance  at 
the  most  important  forms  of  the  belief  and  their  rela- 
tion to  the  modern  thought  that  has  been  evoked  by  a 
sound  study  of  nature.  For  further  information  on 
this  interesting  question  the  reader  would  do  well  to 
consult  the  distinguished  work  of  Adalbert  Svoboda, 
Forms  of  Faith  (1897). 

When  we  pass  over  the  finer  shades  and  the  varie- 
gated clothing  of  the  God-idea  and  confine  our  atten- 
tion to  its  chief  element,  we  can  distribute  all  the  dif- 
ferent presentations  of  it  in  two  groups — the  theistic 
and  pantheistic  group.  The  latter  is  closely  connected 
with  the  monistic,  or  rational,  view  of  things,  and  the 
former  is  associated  with  dualism  and  mysticism. 

I.— THEISM 

In  this  view  God  is  distinct  from,  and  opposed  to,  the 
world  as  its  creator,  sustainer,  and  ruler.  He  is  al- 
ways conceived  in  a  more  or  less  human  form,  as  an 
organism  which  thinks  and  acts  like  a  man — only  on 
a  much  higher  scale.  This  anthropomorphic  God, 
polyphyletically  evolved  by  the  different  races,  as- 
sumes an  infinity  of  shapes  in  their  imagination,  from 
fetichism  to  the  refined  monotheistic  religions  of  the 
present  day.  The  chief  forms  of  theism  are  polythe- 
ism, triplotheism,  amphitheism,  and  monotheism. 

The  polytheist  peoples  the  world  with  a  variety  of 
gods  and  goddesses,  which  enter  into  its  machinery 
more  or  less  independently.  Fetichism  sees  such  sub- 
ordinate deities  in  the  lifeless  body  of  nature,  in  rocks, 
in  water,  in  the  air,  in  human  productions  of  every 
kind  (pictures,  statues,  etc.).  Demonism  sees  gods  in 
living  organisms  of  every  species — trees,  animals,  and 


GOD   AND    THE    WORLD 

men.  This  kind  of  polytheism  is  found  in  innumer- 
able forms  even  in  the  lowest  tribes.  It  reaches  the 
highest  stage  in  Hellenic  polytheism,  in  the  myths  of 
ancient  Greece,  which  still  furnish  the  finest  images  to 
the  modern  poet  and  artist.  At  a  much  lower  stage 
we  have  Catholic  polytheism,  in  which  innumerable 
"  saints  "  (many  of  them  of  very  equivocal  repute)  are 
venerated  as  subordinate  divinities,  and  prayed  to  to 
exert  their  mediation  with  the  supreme  divinity. 

The  dogma  of  the  "  Trinity,"  which  still  comprises 
three  of  the  chief  articles  of  faith  in  the  creed  of  Chris- 
tian peoples,  culminates  in  the  notion  that  the  one  God 
of  Christianity  is  really  made  up  of  three  different  per- 
sons :  (i)  God  the  Father,  the  omnipotent  creator  of  heav- 
en and  earth  (this  untenable  myth  was  refuted  long 
ago  by  scientific  cosmogony,  astronomy,  and  geology)  ; 
(2)  Jesus  Christ;  and  (3)  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  mystical 
being,  over  whose  incomprehensible  relation  to  the 
Father  and  the  Son  millions  of  Christian  theologians 
have  racked  their  brains  in  vain  for  the  last  nineteen 
hundred  years.  The  Gospels,  which  are  the  only 
clear  sources  of  this  triplotheism,  are  very  obscure  as 
to  the  relation  of  these  three  persons  to  each  other,  and 
do  not  give  a  satisfactory  answer  to  the  question  of 
their  unity.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  carefully 
noted  what  confusion  this  obscure  and  mystic  dogma 
of  the  Trinity  must  necessarily  cause  in  the  minds  of 
our  children  even  in  the  earlier  years  of  instruction. 
One  morning  they  learn  (in  their  religious  instruction) 
that  three  times  one  are  one,  and  the  very  next  hour 
they  are  told  in  their  arithmetic  class  that  three  times 
one  are  three.  I  remember  well  the  reflection  that  this 
confusion  led  me  to  in  my  early  school-days. 

For  the  rest,  the  "  Trinity  "  is  not  an  original  ele- 
277 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

ment  in  Christianity ;  like  most  of  the  other  Christian 
dogmas,  it  has  been  borrowed  from  earlier  religions. 
Out  of  the  sun-worship  of  the  Chaldean  magi  was 
evolved  the  Trinity  of  Ilu,  the  mysterious  source  of  the 
world;  its  three  manifestations  were  Anu,  primeval 
chaos;  Bel,  the  architect  of  the  world;  and  Aa,  the 
heavenly  light,  the  all-enlightening  wisdom.  In  the 
Brahmanic  religion  the  Trimurti  is  also  conceived  as 
a  "divine  unity"  made  up  of  three  persons — Brahma 
(the  creator),  Vishnu  (the  sustainer),  and  Shiva  (the 
destroyer).  It  would  seem  that  in  this  and  other  ideas 
of  a  Trinity  the  "  sacred  number,  three/'  as  such — as 
a  "symbolical  number" — has  counted  for  something. 
The  three  first  Christian  virtues  —  Faith,  Hope,  and 
Charity — form  a  similar  triad. 

According  to  the  amphitheists,  the  world  is  ruled  by 
two  different  gods,  a  good  and  an  evil  principle,  God 
and  the  Devil.  They  are  engaged  in  a  perpetual  strug- 
gle, like  rival  emperors,  or  pope  and  anti-pope.  The 
condition  of  the  world  is  the  result  of  this  conflict.  The 
loving  God,  or  good  principle,  is  the  source  of  all  that 
is  good  and  beautiful,  of  joy  and  of  peace.  The  world 
would  be  perfect  if  His  work  were  not  continually 
thwarted  by  the  evil  principle,  the  Devil;  this  being 
is  the  cause  of  all  that  is  bad  and  hateful,  of  contra- 
diction and  of  pain. 

Amphitheism  is  undoubtedly  the  most  rational  of 
all  forms  of  belief  in  God,  and  the  one  which  is  least 
incompatible  with  a  scientific  view  of  the  world.  Hence 
we  find  it  elaborated  in  many  ancient  peoples  thou- 
sands of  years  before  Christ.  In  ancient  India  Vishnu, 
the  preserver,  struggles  with  Shiva,  the  destroyer.  In 
ancient  Egypt  the  good  Osiris  is  opposed  by  the  wicked 
Typhon.  The  early  Hebrews  had  a  similar  dualism 

278 


GOD    AND   THE    WORLD 

of  Aschera  (or  Keturah),  the  fertile  mother-earth,  and 
Elion  (Moloch  or  Sethos),  the  stern  heavenly  father. 
In  the  Zend  religion  of  the  ancient  Persians,  founded 
by  Zoroaster  two  thousand  years  before  Christ,  there 
is  a  perpetual  struggle  between  Ormuzd,  the  good  god 
of  light,  and  Ahriman,  the  wicked  god  of  darkness. 

In  Christian  mythology  the  Devil  is  scarcely  less 
conspicuous  as  the  adversary  of  the  good  deity,  the 
tempter  and  seducer,  the  prince  of  hell,  and  lord  of 
darkness.  A  personal  devil  was  still  an  important 
element  in  the  belief  of  most  Christians  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  nineteenth  century.  Towards  the  middle 
of  the  century  he  was  gradually  eliminated  by  being 
progressively  explained  away,  or  he  was  restricted  to 
the  subordinate  rdle  he  plays  as  Mephistopheles  in 
Goethe's  great  drama.  To-day  the  majority  of  edu- 
cated people  look  upon  "  belief  in  a  personal  devil  "  as 
a  mediaeval  superstition,  while  "belief  in  God"  (that 
is,  the  personal,  good,  and  loving  God)  is  retained  as 
an  indispensable  element  of  religion.  Yet  the  one  be- 
lief is  just  as  much  (or  as  little)  justified  as  the  other. 
In  any  case,  the  much-lamented  "  imperfection  of  our 
earthly  life,"  the  "struggle  for  existence,"  and  all  that 
pertains  to  it,  are  explained  much  more  simply  and 
naturally  by  this  struggle  of  a  good  and  an  evil  god 
than  by  any  other  form  of  theism. 

The  dogma  of  the  unity  of  God  may  in  some  re- 
spects be  regarded  as  the  simplest  and  most  natural 
type  of  theism;  it  is  popularly  supposed  to  be  the 
most  widely  accepted  element  of  religion,  and  to  pre- 
dominate in  the  ecclesiastical  systems  of  civilized  coun- 
tries. In  reality,  that  is  not  the  case,  because  this  al- 
leged "monotheism"  usually  turns  out  on  closer  in- 
quiry to  be  one  of  the  other  forms  of  theism  we  have 

279. 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

examined,  a  number  of  subordinate  deities  being  gen- 
erally introduced  besides  the  supreme  one.  Most  of 
the  religions  which  took  a  purely  monotheistic  stand- 
point have  become  more  or  less  polytheistic  in  the 
course  of  time.  Modern  statistics  assure  us  that  of 
the  one  billion  five  hundred  million  men  who  people 
the  earth  the  great  majority  are  monotheists ;  of  these, 
nominally,  about  six  hundred  millions  are  Brahma- 
Buddhists,  five  hundred  millions  are  called  Christians, 
two  hundred  millions  are  heathens  (of  various  types), 
one  hundred  and  eighty  millions  are  Mohammedans, 
ten  millions  are  Jews,  and  ten  millions  have  no  re- 
ligion at  all.  However,  the  vast  majority  of  these 
nominal  monotheists  have  very  confused  ideas  about 
the  deity,  or  believe  in  a  number  of  gods  and  god- 
desses besides  the  chief  god  — angels,  devils,  etc. 

The  different  forms  which  monotheism  has  assumed 
in  the  course  of  its  polyphyletic  development  may  be 
distributed  in  two  groups — those  of  naturalistic  and 
anthropistic  monotheism.  Naturalistic  monotheism 
finds  the  embodiment  of  the  deity  in  some  lofty  and 
dominating  natural  phenomenon.  The  sun,  the  deity 
of  light  and  warmth,  on  whose  influence  all  organic 
life  insensibly  and  directly  depends,  was  taken  to  be 
such  a  phenomenon  many  thousand  years  ago.  Sun- 
worship  (solarism,  or  heliotheism)  seems  to  the  modern 
scientist  to  be  the  best  of  all  forms  of  theism,  and  the 
one  which  may  be  most  easily  reconciled  with  modern 
monism.  For  modern  astrophysics  and  geogeny  have 
taught  us  that  the  earth  is  a  fragment  detached  from 
the  sun,  and  that  it  will  eventually  return  to  the  bosom 
of  its  parent.  Modern  physiology  teaches  us  that  the 
first  source  of  organic  life  on  the  earth  is  the  formation 
of  protoplasm,  and  that  this  synthesis  of  simple  inor- 

280 


GOD    AND    THE    WORLD 

ganic  substances,  water,  carbonic  acid,  and  ammonia, 
only  takes  place  under  the  influence  of  sunlight.  On 
the  primary  evolution  of  he  plasmodomous  plants  fol- 
lowed, secondarily,  that  of  the  plasmophagous  animals, 
which  directly  or  indirectly  depend  on  them  for  nour- 
ishment; and  the  origin  of  the  human  race  itself  is 
only  a  later  stage  in  the  development  of  the  animal 
kingdom  Indeed,  the  whole  of  our  bodily  and  mental 
life  depends,  in  the  last  resort,  like  all  other  organic 
life,  on  the  light  and  heat  rays  of  the  sun.  Hence  in 
the  light  of  pure  reason,  sun-worship,  as  a  form  of  nat- 
uralistic monotheism,  seems  to  have  a  much  better 
foundation  than  the  anthropistic  worship  of  Christians 
and  of  other  monotheists  who  conceive  their  god  in 
human  form.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  sun-worshippers 
attained,  thousands  of  years  ago,  a  higher  intellectual 
and  moral  standard  than  most  of  the  other  theists. 
When  I  was  in  Bombay,  in  1 88 1,  I  watched  with  the 
greatest  sympathy  the  elevating  rites  of  the  pious 
Parsees,  who,  standing  on  the  sea-shore,  or  kneeling 
on  their  prayer-rugs,  offered  their  devotion  to  the  sun 
at  its  rise  and  setting.* 

Moon -worship  (lunarism  and  selenotheism)  is  of 
much  less  importance  than  sun-worship.  There  are 
a  few  uncivilized  races  that  have  adored  the  moon  as 
their  only  deity,  but  it  has  generally  been  associated 
with  a  worship  of  the  stars  and  the  sun. 

The  humanization  of  God,  or  the  idea  that  the  *  Su- 
preme Being  "  feels,  thinks,  and  acts  like  man  (though 
in  a  higher  degree),  has  played  a  most  important  part, 
as  anthropomorphic  monotheism,  in  the  history  of  civ- 
ilization. The  most  prominent  in  this  respect  are  the 


*  Vide  A  Visit  to  Ceylon,  E.  Haeckel,  translated  by  C.  Bell. 

281 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

three  great  religions  of  the  Mediterranean  peoples 
— the  old  Mosaic  religion,  the  intermediate  Christian 
religion,  and  the  younger  Mohammedanism.  These 
three  great  Mediterranean  religions,  all  three  arising 
on  the  east  coast  of  the  most  interesting  of  all  seas,  and 
originating  in  an  imaginative  enthusiast  of  the  Se- 
mitic race,  are  intimately  connected,  not  only  by  this 
external  circumstance  of  an  analogous  origin,  but 
by  many  common  features  of  their  internal  contents. 
Just  as  Christianity  borrowed  a  good  deal  of  its  my- 
thology directly  from  ancient  Judaism,  so  Islam  has 
inherited  much  from  both  its  predecessors.  All  the 
three  were  originally  monotheistic ;  all  three  were  sub- 
sequently overlaid  with  a  great  variety  of  polytheistic 
features,  in  proportion  as  they  extended,  first  along 
the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean  with  its  heterogeneous 
population,  and  eventually  into  every  part  of  the  world. 
The  Hebrew  monotheism,  as  it  was  founded  by  Moses 
(about  1600  B.C.),  is  usually  regarded  as  the  ancient 
faith  which  has  been  of  the  greatest  importance  in  the 
ethical  and  religious  development  of  humanity.  This 
high  historical  appreciation  is  certainly  valid  in  the 
sense  that  the  two  other  world  -  conquering  Mediter- 
ranean religions  issued  from  it ;  Christ  was  just  as  truly 
a  pupil  of  Moses  as  Mohammed  was  afterwards  of  Christ. 
So  also  the  New  Testament,  which  has  become  the 
foundation  of  the  belief  of  the  highest  civilized  nations 
in  the  short  space  of  nineteen  hundred  years,  rests  on 
the  venerable  basis  of  the  Old  Testament.  The  Bible, 
which  the  two  compose,  has  had  a  greater  influence  and 
a  wider  circulation  than  any  other  book  in  the  world. 
Even  to-day  the  Bible — in  spite  of  its  curious  mingling 
of  the  best  and  the  worst  elements — is  in  a  certain  sense 
the  "  book  of  books."  Yet  when  we  make  an  impar- 

282 


GOD    AND   THE    WORLD 

tial  and  unprejudiced  study  of  this  notable  historical 
source,  we  find  it  very  different  in  several  important 
respects  from  the  popular  impression.  Here  again 
modern  criticism  and  history  have  come  to  certain  con- 
clusions which  destroy  the  prevalent  tradition  in  its 
very  foundations. 

The  monotheism  which  Moses  endeavored  to  estab- 
lish in  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  and  which  the  prophets 
— the  philosophers  of  the  Hebrew  race — afterwards 
developed  with  great  success,  had  at  first  to  sustain 
a  long  and  severe  struggle  with  the  dominant  polythe- 
ism which  was  in  possession.  Jehovah,  or  Yahveh, 
was  originally  derived  from  the  heaven-god,  which, 
under  the  title  of  Moloch  or  Baal,  was  one  of  the  most 
popular  of  the  Oriental  deities  (the  Sethos  or  Typhon 
of  the  Egyptians,  and  the  Saturn  or  Cronos  of  the 
Greeks).  There  were,  however,  other  gods  in  great 
favor  with  the  Jewish  people,  and  so  the  struggle  with 
"idolatry"  continued.  Still,  Jehovah  was,  in  princi- 
ple, the  only  God,  explicitly  claiming,  in  the  first  pre- 
cept of  the  decalogue :  "  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God ;  thou 
shalt  have  no  other  gods  beside  me." 

Christian  monotheism  shared  the  fate  of  its  moth- 
er, Mosaism;  it  was  generally  only  monotheistic  in 
theory,  while  it  degenerated  practically  into  every 
kind  of  polytheism.  In  point  of  fact,  monotheism  was 
logically  abandoned  in  the  very  dogma  of  the  Trinity, 
which  was  adopted  as  an  indispensable  foundation 
of  the  Christian  religion.  The  three  persons,  which 
are  distinguished  as  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  are 
three  distinct  individuals  (and,  indeed,  anthropomor- 
phic persons),  just  as  truly  as  the  three  Indian  deities 
of  the  Trimurti  (Brahma,  Vishnu,  and  Shiva)  or  the 
Trinity  of  the  ancient  Hebrews  (Anu,  Bel,  and  Aa). 

283 


THE    RIDDLE    OF  THE    UNIVERSE 

Moreover,  in  the  most  widely  distributed  form  of  Chris- 
tianity the  "  virgin  "  mother  of  Christ  plays  an  impor- 
tant part  as  a  fourth  deity ;  in  many  Catholic  countries 
she  is  practically  taken  to  be  much  more  powerful  and 
influential  than  the  three  male  persons  of  the  celestial 
administration.  The  cult  of  the  madonna  has  been  de- 
veloped to  such  an  extent  in  these  countries  that  we 
may  oppose  it  to  the  usual  masculine  form  of  mono- 
theism as  one  of  a  feminine  type.  The  "  Queen  of 
Heaven"  becomes  so  prominent,  as  is  seen  in  so  many 
pictures  and  legends  of  the  madonna,  that  the  three 
male  persons  practically  disappear. 

In  addition,  the  imagination  of  the  pious  Christian 
soon  came  to  increase  this  celestial  administration  by 
a  numerous  company  of  "saints"  of  all  kinds,  and 
bands  of  musical  angels,  who  should  see  that  "  eternal 
life"  should  not  prove  too  dull.  The  popes — the  great- 
est charla'ans  that  any  religion  ever  produced — have 
constantly  studied  to  increase  this  band  of  celestial 
satellites  by  repeated  canonizations.  This  curious  com- 
pany received  its  most  interesting  acquisition  in  1870, 
when  the  Vatican  Council  pronounced  the  popes,  as 
the  vicars  of  Christ,  to  be  infallible,  and  thus  raised 
them  to  a  divine  dignity.  When  we  add  the  "personal 
Devil"  that  they  acknowledge,  and  the  "bad  angels" 
who  form  his  court,  we  have  in  modern  Catholicism, 
still  the  most  extensive  branch  of  Christianity,  a  rich 
and  variegated  polytheism  that  dwarfs  the  Olympic 
family  of  the  Greeks. 

Islam,  or  the  Mohammedan  monotheism,  is  the 
youngest  and  purest  form  of  monotheism.  When  the 
young  Mohammed  (born  570)  learned  to  despise  the 
polytheistic  idolatry  of  his  Arabian  compatriots,  and 
became  acquainted  with  Nestorian  Christianity,  he 

284 


GOD    AND   THE    WORLD 

adopted  its  chief  doctrines  in  a  general  way;  but  he 
could  not  bring  himself  to  see  anything  more  than  a 
prophet  in  Christ,  like  Moses.  He  found  in  the  dogma 
of  the  Trinity  what  every  emancipated  thinker  finds 
on  impartial  reflection — an  absurd  legend  which  is 
neither  reconcilable  with  the  first  principles  of  reason 
nor  of  any  value  whatever  for  our  religious  advance- 
ment. He  justly  regarded  the  worship  of  the  immacu- 
late mother  of  God  as  a  piece  of  pure  idolatry,  like  the 
veneration  of  pictures  and  images.  The  longer  he  re- 
flected on  it,  and  the  more  he  strove  after  a  purified 
idea  of  deity,  the  clearer  did  the  certitude  of  his  great 
maxim  appear :  "God  is  the  only  God " — there  are  no 
other  gods  beside  him. 

Yet  Mohammed  could  not  free  himself  from  the  an- 
thropomorphism of  the  God-idea.  His  one  only  God 
was  an  idealized,  almighty  man,  like  the  stern,  vin- 
dictive God  of  Moses,  and  the  gentle,  loving  God  of 
Christ.  Still,  we  must  admit  that  the  Mohammedan 
religion  has  preserved  the  character  of  pure  monothe- 
ism throughout  the  course  of  its  historical  development 
and  its  inevitable  division  much  more  faithfully  than 
the  Mosaic  and  Christian  religions.  We  see  that  to- 
day, even  externally,  in  its  forms  of  prayer  and  preach- 
ing, and  in  the  architecture  and  adornment  of  its 
mosques.  When  I  visited  the  East  for  the  first  time,  in 
1873,  and  admired  the  noble  mosques  of  Cairo,  Smyrna, 
Brussa,  and  Constantinople,  I  was  inspired  with  a  feel- 
ing of  real  devotion  by  the  simple  and  tasteful  decora- 
tion of  the  interior,  and  the  lofty  and  beautiful  archi- 
tectural work  of  the  exterior.  How  noble  and  inspir- 
ing do  these  mosques  appear  in  comparison  with  the 
majority  of  Catholic  churches,  which  are  covered  in- 
ternally with  gaudy  pictures  and  gilt,  and  are  out- 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

wardly  disfigured  by  an  immoderate  crowd  of  human 
and  animal  figures!  Not  less  elevated  are  the  silent 
prayers  and  the  simple  devotional  acts  of  the  Koran 
when  compared  with  the  loud,  unintelligible  verbosity 
of  the  Catholic  Mass  and  the  blatant  music  of  their 
theatrical  processions. 

Under  the  title  of  mixotheism  we  may  embrace  all  the 
forms  of  theistic  belief  which  contain  mixtures  of  re- 
ligious notions  of  different,  sometimes  contradictory, 
kinds.  In  theory  this  most  widely  diffused  type  of 
religion  is  not  recognized  at  all;  in  the  concrete  it  is 
the  most  important  and  most  notable  of  all.  The  vast 
majority  of  men  who  have  religious  opinions  have  al- 
ways been,  and  still  are,  mixotheists;  their  idea  of  God 
is  picturesquely  compounded  from  the  impressions  re- 
ceived in  childhood  from  their  own  sect,  and  a  number 
of  other  impressions  which  are  received  later  on,  from 
contact  with  members  of  other  religions,  and  which 
modify  the  earlier  notions.  In  educated  people  there  is 
also  sometimes  the  modifying  influence  of  philosophic 
studies  in  maturer  years,  and  especially  the  unpreju- 
diced study  of  natural  phenomena,  which  reveals  the 
futility  of  the  theistic  idea.  The  conflict  of  these  con- 
tradictory impressions,  which  is  very  painful  to  a  sensi- 
tive soul,  and  which  often  remains  undecided  through- 
out- life,  clearly  shows  the  immense  power  of  the  hered- 
ity of  ancient  myths  on  the  one  hand  and  the  early 
adaptation  to  erroneous  dogmas  on  the  other.  The 
particular  faith  in  which  the  child  has  been  brought 
up  generally  remains  in  power,  unless  a  "conversion" 
takes  place  subsequently,  owing  to  the  stronger  influ- 
ence of  some  other  religion.  But  even  in  this  superses- 
sion of  one  faith  by  another  the  new  name,  like  the  old 
one,  proves  to  be  merely  an  outward  label  covering  a 

286 


GOD   AND    THE   WORLD 

mixture  of  the  most  diverse  opinions  and  errors.  The 
greater  part  of  those  who  call  themselves  Christians 
are  not  monotheists  (as  they  think),  but  amphitheists, 
triplotheists,  or  polytheists.  And  the  same  must  be 
said  of  Islam  and  Mosaism,  and  other  monotheistic 
religions.  Everywhere  we  find  associated  with  the 
original  idea  of  a  "  sole  and  triune  God  "  later  beliefs 
in  a  number  of  subordinate  deities — angels,  devils, 
saints,  etc. — a  picturesque  assortment  of  the  most  di- 
verse theistic  forms. 

All  the  above  forms  of  theism,  in  the  proper  sense  of 
the  word — whether  the  belief  assumes  a  naturalistic  or 
an  anthropistic  form — represent  God  to  be  an  extra- 
mundane  or  a  supernatural  being.  He  is  always  op- 
posed to  the  world,  or  nature,  as  an  independent  being ; 
generally  as  its  creator,  sustainer,  and  ruler.  In  most 
religions  he  has  the  additional  character  of  personality, 
or,  to  put  it  more  definitely  still,  God  as  a  person  is 
likened  to  man.  "In  his  gods  man  paints  himself." 
This  anthropomorphic  conception  of  God  as  one 
who  thinks,  feels,  and  acts  like  man  prevails  with  the 
great  majority  of  theists,  sometimes  in  a  cruder  and 
more  naive  form,  sometimes  in  a  more  refined  and 
abstract  degree.  In  any  case  the  form  of  theosophy 
we  have  described  is  sure  to  affirm  that  God,  the  su- 
preme being,  is  infinite  in  perfection,  and  therefore  far 
removed  from  the  imperfection  of  humanity.  Yet, 
when  we  examine  closely,  we  always  find  the  same 
psychic  or  mental  activity  in  the  two.  God  feels, 
thinks,  and  acts  as  man  does,  although  it  be  in  an 
infinitely  more  perfect  form. 

The  personal  anthropism  of  God  has  become  so  nat- 
ural to  the  majority  of  believers  that  they  experience 
no  shock  when  they  find  God  personified  in  human 

287 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

form  in  pictures  and  statues,  and  in  the  varied  images 
of  the  poet,  in  which  God  takes  human  form — that  is, 
is  changed  into  a  vertebrate.  In  some  myths,  even, 
God  takes  the  form  of  other  mammals  (an  ape,  lion, 
bull,  etc.),  and  more  rarely  of  a  bird  (eagle,  dove,  or 
stork),  or  of  some  lower  vertebrate  (serpent,  crocodile, 
dragon,  etc.). 

In  the  higher  and  more  abstract  forms  of  religion 
this  idea  of  bodily  appearance  is  entirely  abandoned, 
and  God  is  adored  as  a  "pure  spirit"  without  a  body. 
"God  is  a  spirit,  and  they  who  worship  him  must 
worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth."  Nevertheless, 
the  psychic  activity  of  this  "pure  spirit"  remains  just 
the  same  as  that  of  the  anthropomorphic  God.  In  real- 
ity, even  this  immaterial  spirit  is  not  conceived  to  be 
incorporeal,  but  merely  invisible,  gaseous.  We  thus 
arrive  at  the  paradoxical  conception  of  God  as  a  gaseous 
vertebrate. 

II.— PANTHEISM 

Pantheism  teaches  that  God  and  the  world  are  one. 
The  idea  of  God  is  identical  with  that  of  nature  or  sub- 
stance. This  pantheistic  view  is  sharply  opposed  in 
principle  to  all  the  systems  we  have  described,  and  to 
all  possible  forms  of  theism  although  there  have  been 
many  attempts  made  from  both  sides  to  bridge  over 
the  deep  chasm  that  separates  the  two.  There  is  al- 
ways this  fundamental  contradiction  between  them, 
that  in  theism  God  is  opposed  to  nature  as  an  extramun- 
dane  being,  as  creating  and  sustaining  the  world,  and 
acting  upon  it  from  without,  while  in  pantheism  God, 
as  an  intramundane  being,  is  everywhere  identical 
with  nature  itself,  and  is  operative  within  the  world 
as  "  force  "  or  *  energy."  The  latter  view  alone  is  com- 

288 


GOD    AND   THE    WORLD 

patible  with  our  supreme  law — the  law  of  substance. 
It  follows  necessarily  that  pantheism  is  the  world- 
system  of  the  modern  scientist.  There  are,  it  is  true, 
still  a  few  men  of  science  who  contest  this,  and  think 
it  possible  to  reconcile  the  old  theistic  theory  of  human 
nature  with  the  pantheistic  truth  of  the  law  of  sub- 
stance. All  these  efforts  rest  on  confusion  or  sophistry 
—when  they  are  honest. 

As  pantheism  is  a  result  of  an  advanced  conception 
of  nature  in  the  civilized  mind,  it  is  naturally  much 
younger  than  theism,  the  crudest  forms  of  which  are 
found  in  great  variety  in  the  uncivilized  races  of  ten 
thousand  years  ago.  We  do,  indeed,  find  the  germs 
of  pantheism  in  different  religions  at  the  very  dawn  of 
philosophy  in  the  earliest  civilized  peoples  (in  India, 
Egypt,  China,  and  Japan),  several  thousand  years  be- 
fore the  time  of  Christ ;  still,  we  do  not  meet  a  definite 
philosophical  expression  of  it  until  the  hylozoism  of 
the  Ionic  philosophers,  in  the  first  half  of  the  sixth  cen- 
tury before  Christ.  All  the  great  thinkers  of  this  flour- 
ishing period  of  Hellenic  thought  are  surpassed  by  the 
famous  Anaximander,  of  Miletus,  who  conceived  the 
essential  unity  of  the  infinite  universe  (apeiron)  more 
profoundly  and  more  clearly  than  his  master,  Thales, 
or  his  pupil,  Anaximenes.  Not  only  the  great  thought 
of  the  original  unity  of  the  cosmos  and  the  development 
of  all  phenomena  out  of  the  all-pervading  primitive 
matter  found  expression  in  Anaximander,  but  he  even 
enunciated  the  bold  idea  of  countless  worlds  in  a  peri- 
odic alternation  of  birth  and  death. 

Many  other  great  philosophers  of  classical  antiquity, 
especially  Democritus,  Heraclitus,  and  Empedocles, 
had,  in  the  same  or  an  analogous  sense,  a  profound 
conception  of  this  unity  of  nature  and  God,  of  body 

289 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

and  spirit,  which  has  obtained  its  highest  expression 
in  the  law  of  substance  of  our  modern  monism.  The 
famous  Roman  poet  and  philosopher,  Lucretius  Cams, 
has  presented  it  in  a  highly  poetic  form  in  his  poem 
"De  Rerum  Natura."  However,  this  true  pantheistic 
monism  was  soon  entirely  displaced  by  the  mystic 
dualism  of  Plato,  and  especially  by  the  powerful  influ- 
ence which  the  idealistic  philosophy  obtained  by  its 
blending  with  Christian  dogmas.  When  the  papacy 
attained  to  its  spiritual  despotism  over  the  world,  pan- 
theism was  hopelessly  crushed;  Giordano  Bruno,  its 
most  gifted  defender,  was  burned  alive  by  the  "  Vicar 
of  Christ"  in  the  Campo  dei  Fiori  at  Rome  on  Feb- 
ruary 17, 1600. 

It  was  not  until  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century 
that  pantheism  was  exhibited  in  its  purest  form  by  the 
great  Baruch  Spinoza ;  he  gave  for  the  totality  of  things 
a  definition  of  substance  in  which  God  and  the  world 
are  inseparably  united.  The  clearness,  confidence, 
and  consistency  of  Spinoza's  monistic  system  are  the 
more  remarkable  when  we  remember  that  this  gifted 
thinker  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  was  with- 
out the  support  of  all  those  sound  empirical  bases  which 
have  been  obtained  in  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  We  have  already  spoken,  in  the  first  chapter, 
of  Spinoza's  relation  to  the  materialism  of  the  eigh- 
teenth and  the  monism  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
propagation  of  his  views,  especially  in  Germany,  is  due, 
above  all,  to  the  immortal  works  of  our  greatest  poet  and 
thinker,  Wolfgang  Goethe.  His  splendid  God  and 
the  World,  Prometheus,  Faust,  etc.,  embody  the  great 
thoughts  of  pantheism  in  the  most  perfect  poetic  crea- 
tions. 

Atheism  affirms  that  there  are  no  gods  or  goddesses, 
290 


GOD    AND   THE    WORLD 

assuming  that  god  means  a  personal,  extramundane 
entity.  This  "godless  world  -  system  "  substantially 
agrees  with  the  monism  or  pantheism  of  the  modern 
scientist;  it  is  only  another  expression  for  it,  empha- 
sizing its  negative  aspect,  the  non-existence  of  any  su- 
pernatural deity.  In  this  sense  Schopenhauer  justly 
remarks :  "  Pantheism  is  only  a  polite  form  of  atheism. 
The  truth  of  pantheism  lies  in  its  destruction  of  the 
dualist  antithesis  of  God  and  the  world,  in  its  recog- 
nition that  the  world  exists  in  virtue  of  its  own  inher- 
ent forces.  The  maxim  of  the  pantheist,  '  God  and 
the  world  are  one/  is  merely  a  polite  way  of  giving 
the  Lord  God  his  conge." 

During  the  whole  of  the  Middle  Ages,  under  the  bloody 
despotism  of  the  popes,  atheism  was  persecuted  with 
fire  and  sword  as  a  most  pernicious  system.  As  the 
"  godless  "  man  is  plainly  identified  with  the  "  wicked  " 
in  the  Gospel,  and  is  threatened — simply  on  account  of 
his  "want  of  faith" — with  the  eternal  fires  of  hell,  it 
was  very  natural  that  every  good  Christian  should  be 
anxious  to  avoid  the  suspicion  of  atheism.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  idea  still  prevails  very  widely.  The  atheistic 
scientist  who  devotes  his  strength  and  his  life  to  the 
search  for  the  truth,  is  freely  credited  with  all  that  is 
evil;  the  theistic  church-goer,  who  thoughtlessly  fol- 
lows the  empty  ceremonies  of  Catholic  worship,  is  at 
once  assumed  to  be  a  good  citizen,  even  if  there  be  no 
meaning  whatever  in  his  faith  and  his  morality  be  de- 
plorable. This  error  will  only  be  destroyed  when,  in 
the  twentieth  century,  the  prevalent  superstition  gives 
place  to  rational  knowledge  and  to  a  monistic  concep- 
tion of  the  unity  of  God  and  the  world. 

291 


CHAPTER  XVI 
KNOWLEDGE  AND  BELIEF 

The  Knowledge  of  the  Truth  and  Its  Sources  :  the  Activity  of  the 
Senses  and  the  Association  of  Presentations — Organs  of  Sense 
and  Organs  of  Thought — Sense-Organs  and  their  Specific 
Energy — Their  Evolution — The  Philosophy  of  Sensibility — 
Inestimable  Value  of  the  Senses — Limits  of  Sensitive  Knowl- 
edge—Hypothesis and  Faith— Theory  and  Faith— Essential 
Difference  of  Scientific  (Natural)  and  Religious  (Supernatural) 
Faith — Superstition  of  Savage  and  of  Civilized  Races — Con- 
fessions of  Faith — Unsectarian  Schools — The  Faith  of  Our 
Fathers — Spiritism — Revelation 

VERY  effort  of  genuine  science  makes  for  a  knowl- 
edge  of  the  truth.  Our  only  real  and  valuable 
knowledge  is  a  knowledge  of  nature  itself,  and  con- 
sists of  presentations  which  correspond  to  external 
things.  We  are  incompetent,  it  is  true,  to  penetrate 
into  the  innermost  nature  of  this  real  world — the  "  thing 
in  itself  " — but  impartial  critical  observation  and  com- 
parison inform  us  that,  in  the  normal  action  of  the 
brain  and  the  organs  of  sense,  the  impressions  received 
by  them  from  the  outer  world  are  the  same  in  all  ra- 
tional men,  and  that  in  the  normal  function  of  the 
organs  of  thought  certain  presentations  are  formed 
which  are  everywhere  the  same.  These  presenta- 
tions we  call  true,  and  we  are  convinced  that  their  con- 
tent corresponds  to  the  knowable  aspect  of  things. 
We  know  that  these  facts  are  not  imaginary,  but  real. 

292 


KNOWLEDGE    AND   BELIEF 

All  knowledge  of  the  truth  depends  on  two  different, 
but  intimately  connected,  groups  of  human  physio- 
logical functions:  firstly,  on  the  sense-impressions  of 
the  object  by  means  of  sense-action,  and,  secondly,  on 
the  combination  of  these  impressions  by  an  associa- 
tion into  presentations  in  the  subject.  The  instru- 
ments of  sensation  are  the  sense-organs  (sensilla  or 
aestheta) ;  the  instruments  which  form  and  link  to- 
gether the  presentations  are  the  organs  of  thought 
(phroneta).  The  latter  are  part  of  the  central,  and  the 
former  part  of  the  peripheral,  nervous  system — that 
important  and  elaborate  system  of  organs  in  the  higher 
animals  which  alone  effects  their  entire  psychic  activity. 

Man's  sense-activity,  which  is  the  starting-point  of 
all  knowledge,  has  been  slowly  and  gradually  devel- 
oped from  that  of  his  nearest  mammal  relatives,  the 
primates.  The  sense-organs  are  of  substantially  the 
same  construction  throughout  this  highest  animal 
group,  and  their  function  takes  place  always  according 
to  the  same  physical  and  chemical  laws.  They  have 
had  the  same  historical  development  in  all  cases.  In 
the  mammals,  as  in  the  case  of  all  other  animals,  the 
sensilla  were  originally  parts  of  the  skin ;  the  sensitive 
cells  of  the  epidermis  are  the  sources  of  all  the  differ- 
ent sense-organs,  which  have  acquired  their  specific 
energy  by  adaptation  to  different  stimuli  (light,  heat, 
sound,  chemical  action,  etc.).  The  rod-cells  in  the  ret- 
ina of  the  eye,  the  auditory  cells  in  the  cochlea  of  the 
ear,  the  olfactory  cells  in  the  nose,  and  the  taste-cells 
on  the  tongue,  are  all  originally  derived  from  the  sim- 
ple, indifferent  cells  of  the  epidermis,  which  cover  the 
entire  surface  of  the  body.  This  significant  fact  can 
be  directly  proved  by  observation  of  the  embryonic  de- 
velopment of  man  or  any  of  the  higher  animals.  And 

293 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

from  this  ontogenetic  fact  we  confidently  infer,  in  virtue 
of  the  great  biogenetic  law,  the  important  phylogenetic 
proposition,  that  in  the  long  historical  evolution  of  our 
ancestors,  likewise,  the  higher  sense-organs  with  their 
specific  energies  were  originally  derived  from  the  epi- 
dermis of  lower  animals,  from  a  simple  layer  of  cells 
which  had  no  trace  of  such  differentiated  sensilla. 

A  particular  importance  attaches  to  the  circumstance 
that  different  nerves  are  qualified  to  perceive  different 
properties  of  the  environment,  and  these  only.  The 
optic  nerve  accomplishes  only  the  perception  of  light, 
the  auditory  nerve  the  perception  of  sound,  the  olfac- 
tory nerve  the  perception  of  smell,  and  so  on.  No  mat- 
ter what  stimuli  impinge  on  and  irritate  a  given  sense- 
organ,  its  reaction  is  always  of  the  same  character. 
From  this  specific  energy  of  the  sense  -  nerves,  which 
was  first  fully  appreciated  by  Johannes  Miiller,  very 
erroneous  inferences  have  been  drawn,  especially  in 
favor  of  a  dualistic  and  &  priori  theory  of  knowledge. 
It  has  been  affirmed  that  the  brain,  or  the  soul,  only 
perceives  a  certain  condition  of  the  stimulated  nerve, 
and  that,  consequently,  no  conclusion  can  be  drawn 
from  the  process  as  to  the  existence  and  nature  of  the 
stimulating  environment.  Sceptical  philosophy  con- 
cluded that  the  very  existence  of  an  outer  world  is 
doubtful,  and  extreme  idealism  went  on  positively  to 
deny  it,  contending  that  things  only  exist  in  our  im- 
pressions of  them. 

In  opposition  to  these  erroneous  views,  we  must  re- 
call the  fact  that  the  "specific  energy"  was  not  orig- 
inally an  innate,  special  quality  of  the  various  nerves, 
but  it  has  arisen  by  adaptation  to  the  particular  ac- 
tivity of  the  epidermic  cells  in  which  they  terminate. 
In  harmony  with  the  great  law  of  "division  of  labor  " 

294 


KNOWLEDGE    AND    BELIEF 

the  originally  indifferent  "sense-cells  of  the  skin  "un- 
dertook different  tasks,  one  group  of  them  taking  over 
the  stimulus  of  the  light  rays,  another  the  impress  of 
the  sound  waves,  a  third  the  chemical  impulse  of  odor- 
ous substances,  and  so  on.  In  the  course  of  a  very 
long  period  these  external  stimuli  effected  a  gradual 
change  in  the  physiological,  and  later  in  the  morpho- 
logical, properties  of  these  parts  of  the  epidermis,  and 
there  was  a  correlative  modification  of  the  sensitive 
nerves  which  conduct  the  impressions  they  receive  to 
the  brain.  Selection  improved,  step  by  step,  such  par- 
ticular modifications  as  proved  to  be  useful,  and  thus 
eventually,  in  the  course  of  many  million  years,  cre- 
ated those  wonderful  instruments,  the  eye  and  the  ear, 
which  we  prize  so  highly ;  their  structure  is  so  remark- 
ably purposive  that  they  might  well  lead  to  the  erro- 
neous assumption  of  a  "  creation  on  a  preconceived  de- 
sign/' The  peculiar  character  of  each  sense-organ  and 
its  specific  nerve  has  thus  been  gradually  evolved  by 
use  and  exercise — that  is,  by  adaptation — and  has  then 
been  transmitted  by  heredity  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration. Albrecht  Rau  has  thoroughly  established  this 
view  in  his  excellent  work  on  Sensation  and  Thought, 
a  physiological  inquiry  into  the  nature  of  the  human 
understanding  (1896).  It  points  out  the  correct  sig- 
nificance of  Muller's  law  of  specific  sense-energies, 
adding  searching  investigations  into  their  relation  to 
the  brain,  and  in  the  last  chapter  there  is  an  able  "phi- 
losophy of  sensitivity"  based  on  the  ideas  of  Ludwig 
Feuerbach.  I  thoroughly  agree  with  his  convincing 
work. 

Critical  comparison  of  sense-action  in  man  and  the 
other  vertebrates  has  brought  to  light  a  number  of  ex- 
tremely important  facts,  the  knowledge  of  which  we 

295 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

owe  to  the  penetrating  research  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, especially  of  the  second  half  of  the  century.  This 
is  particularly  true  of  the  two  most  elaborate  "aesthetic" 
organs,  the  eye  and  the  ear.  They  present  a  different 
and  more  complicated  structure  in  the  vertebrates  than 
in  the  other  animals,  and  have  also  a  characteristic 
development  in  the  embryo.  This  typical  ontogenesis 
and  structure  of  the  sensilla  of  all  the  vertebrates  is 
only  explained  by  heredity  from  a  common  ances- 
tor. Within  the  vertebrate  group,  however,  we  find  a 
great  variety  of  structure  in  points  of  detail,  and  this 
is  due  to  adaptation  to  their  manner  of  life  on  the  part  of 
the  various  species,  to  the  increasing  or  diminishing 
use  of  various  parts. 

In  respect  of  the  structure  of  his  sense-organs  man 
is  by  no  means  the  most  perfect  and  most  highly- 
developed  vertebrate.  The  eye  of  the  eagle  is  much 
keener,  and  can  distinguish  small  objects  at  a  distance 
much  more  clearly  than  the  human  eye.  The  hearing 
of  many  mammals,  especially  of  the  carnivora,  ungu- 
lata,  and  rodentia  of  the  desert,  is  much  more  sensi- 
tive than  that  of  man,  and  perceives  slight  noises  at 
a  much  greater  distance ;  that  may  be  seen  at  a  glance 
by  their  large  and  very  sensitive  cochlea.  Singing 
birds  have  attained  a  higher  grade  of  development, 
even  in  respect  of  musical  endowment,  than  the  ma- 
jority of  men.  The  sense  of  smell  is  much  more  de- 
veloped in  most  of  the  mammals,  especially  in  the  car- 
nivora and  the  ungulata,  than  in  man ;  if  the  dog  could 
compare  his  own  fine  scent  with  that  of  man,  he  would 
look  down  on  us  with  compassion.  Even  with  regard 
to  the  lower  senses — taste,  sex-sense,  touch,  and  tem- 
perature—  man  has  by  no  means  reached  the  highest 
stage  in  every  respect. 

296 


KNOWLEDGE    AND    BELIEF 

We  can  naturally  only  pass  judgment  on  the  sen- 
sations which  we  ourselves  experience.  However,  an- 
atomy informs  us  of  the  presence  in  the  bodies  of  many 
animals  of  other  senses  than  those  we  are  familiar  with. 
Thus  fishes  and  other  lower  aquatic  vertebrates  have 
peculiar  sensilla  in  the  skin  which  are  in  connection 
with  special  sense-nerves.  On  the  right  and  left  sides 
of  the  fish's  body  there  is  a  long  canal,  branching  into 
a  number  of  smaller  canals  at  the  head.  In  this  "  mu- 
cous canal  "  there  are  nerves  with  numerous  branches, 
the  terminations  of  which  are  connected  with  peculiar 
nerve-aggregates.  This  extensive  epidermic  sense- 
organ  probably  serves  for  the  perception  of  changes 
in  the  pressure,  or  in  other  properties,  of  the  water. 
Some  groups  are  distinguished  by  the  possession  of 
other  peculiar  sensilla,  the  meaning  of  which  is  still 
unknown  to  us. 

But  it  is  already  clear  from  the  above  facts  that  our 
human  sense-activity  is  limited,  not  only  in  quantity, 
but  in  quality  also.  We  can  thus  only  perceive  with 
our  senses,  especially  with  the  eye  and  the  sense  of 
touch,  a  part  of  the  qualities  of  the  objects  in  our  en- 
vironment. And  even  this  partial  perception  is  in- 
complete, in  the  sense  that  our  organs  are  imperfect, 
and  our  sensory  nerves,  acting  as  interpreters,  com- 
municate to  the  brain  only  a  translation  of  the  impres- 
sions received. 

However,  this  acknowledged  imperfection  of  our 
senses  should  not  prevent  us  from  recognizing  their 
instruments,  and  especially  the  eye,  to  be  organs  of 
the  highest  type ;  together  with  the  thought-organs  in 
the  brain,  they  are  nature's  most  valuable  gift  to  man. 
Very  truly  does  Albrecht  Rau  say:  "All  science  is 
sensitive  knowledge  in  the  ultimate  analysis;  it  does 

297 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

not  deny,  but  interpret,  the  data  of  the  senses.  The 
senses  are  our  first  and  best  friends.  Long  before  the 
mind  is  developed  the  senses  tell  man  what  he  must  do 
and  avoid.  He  who  makes  a  general  disavowal  of  the 
senses  in  order  to  meet  their  dangers  acts  as  thought- 
lessly and  as  foolishly  as  the  man  who  plucks  out  his 
eyes  because  they  once  fell  on  shameful  things,  or  the 
man  who  cuts  off  his  hand  lest  at  any  time  it  should 
reach  out  to  the  goods  of  his  neighbor."  Hence  Feuer- 
bach  is  quite  right  in  calling  all  philosophies,  religions, 
and  systems  which  oppose  the  principle  of  sense-action 
not  only  erroneous,  but  really  pernicious.  Without  the 
senses  there  is  no  knowledge — "Nihil  est  in  intellectu, 
quod  non  fuerit  in  sensu,"  as  Locke  said.  Twenty  years 
ago  I  pointed  out,  in  my  chapter  "  On  the  Origin  and 
Development  of  the  Sense-Organs/'*  the  great  service 
of  Darwinism  in  giving  us  a  profounder  knowledge 
and  a  juster  appreciation  of  the  senses. 

The  thirst  for  knowledge  of  the  educated  mind  is 
not  contented  with  the  defective  acquaintance  with  the 
outer  world  which  is  obtained  through  our  imperfect 
sense-organs.  He  endeavors  to  build  up  the  sense-im- 
pressions which  they  have  brought  him  into  valuable 
knowledge.  He  transforms  them  into  specific  sense- 
perceptions  in  the  sense-centres  of  the  cortex  of  the 
brain,  and  combines  them  into  presentations,  by  asso- 
ciation, in  the  thought-centres.  Finally,  by  a  further 
concatenation  of  the  groups  of  presentations  he  at- 
tains to  connected  knowledge.  But  this  knowledge  re- 
mains defective  and  unsatisfactory  until  the  imagina- 
tion supplements  the  inadequate  power  of  combination 
of  the  intelligence,  and,  by  the  association  of  stored-up 

*  Collected  Popular  Lectures ;  Bonn,  1878. 
298 


KNOWLEDGE    AND   BELIEF 

images,  unites  the  isolated  elements  into  a  connected 
whole.  Thus  are  produced  new  general  presentative 
images,  and  these  suffice  to  interpret  the  facts  perceived 
and  satisfy  "reason's  feeling  of  causality." 

The  presentations  which  fill  up  the  gaps  in  our 
knowledge,  or  take  its  place,  may  be  called,  in  a  broad 
sense,  "faith."  That  is  what  happens  continually  in 
daily  life.  When  we  are  not  sure  about  a  thing  wei 
say,  I  believe  it.  In  this  sense  we  are  compelled  to 
make  use  of  faith  even  in  science  itself ;  we  conjecture 
or  assume  that  a  certain  relation  exists  between  two 
phenomena,  though  we  do  not  know  it  for  certain.  If  it 
is  a  question  of  a  cause,  we  form  a  hypothesis;  though 
in  science  only  such  hypotheses  are  admitted  as  lie 
within  the  sphere  of  human  cognizance,  and  do  not 
contradict  known  facts.  Such  hypotheses  are,  for  in- 
stance— in  physics  the  theory  of  the  vibratory  move- 
ment of  ether,  in  chemistry  the  hypothesis  of  atoms 
and  their  affinity,  in  biology  the  theory  of  the  molecular 
structure  of  living  protoplasm,  and  so  forth. 

The  explanation  of  a  great  number  of  connected  phe- 
nomena by  the  assumption  of  a  common  cause  is  called 
a  theory.  Both  in  theory  and  hypothesis  "faith"  (in 
the  scientific  sense)  is  indispensable ;  for  here  again  it 
is  the  imagination  that  fills  up  the  gaps  left  by  the  in- 
telligence in  our  knowledge  of  the  connection  of  things. 
A  theory,  therefore,  must  always  be  regarded  only  as 
an  approximation  to  the  truth;  it  must  be  understood 
that  it  may  be  replaced  in  time  by  another  and  better- 
grounded  theory.  But,  in  spite  of  this  admitted  un- 
certainty, theory  is  indispensable  for  all  true  science; 
it  elucidates  facts  by  postulating  a  cause  for  them. 
The  man  who  renounces  theory  altogether,  and  seeks 
to  construct  a  pure  science  with  certain  facts  alone  (as 

299 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

often  happens  with  wrong-headed  representatives  of 
our  "exact  sciences"),  must  give  up  the  hope  of  any 
knowledge  of  causes,  and,  consequently,  of  the  satis- 
faction of  reason's  demand  for  causality. 

The  theory  of  gravitation  in  astronomy  (Newton), 
the  nebular  theory  in  cosmogony  (Kant  and  Laplace), 
the  principle  of  energy  in  physics  (Meyer  and  Helm- 
holtz),  the  atomic  theory  in  chemistry  (Dalton),  the 
vibratory  theory  in  optics  (Huyghens),  the  cellular 
theory  in  histology  (Schleiden  and  Schwann),  and  the 
theory  of  descent  in  biology  (Lamarck  and  Darwin), 
are  all  important  theories  of  the  first  rank;  they  ex- 
plain a  whole  world  of  natural  phenomena  by  the  as- 
sumption of  a  common  cause  for  all  the  several  facts  of 
their  respective  provinces,  and  by  showing  that  all  the 
phenomena  thereof  are  inter-connected  and  controlled 
by  laws  which  issue  from  this  common  cause.  Yet  the 
cause  itself  may  remain  obscure  in  character,  or  be 
merely  a  "  provisional  hypothesis. n  The  "  force  of  grav- 
ity "  in  the  theory  of  gravitation  and  in  cosmogony, 
u  energy  "  itself  in  its  relation  to  matter,  the  "  ether  "  of 
optics  and  electricity,  the  "  atom "  of  the  chemist,  the 
living  "protoplasm"  of  histology,  the  "heredity"  of 
the  evolutionist — these  and  similar  conceptions  of  other 
great  theories  may  be  regarded  by  a  sceptical  philos- 
ophy as  "  mere  hypotheses  "  and  the  outcome  of  scien- 
tific "  faith/'  yet  they  are  indispensable  for  us,  until 
they  are  replaced  by  better  hypotheses. 

The  dogmas  which  are  used  for  the  explanation  of 
phenomena  in  the  various  religions,  and  which  go  by 
the  name  of  "faith"  (in  the  narrower  sense),  are  of  a 
very  different  character  from  the  forms  of  scientific 
faith  we  have  enumerated.  The  two  types,  however — 
the  "  natural "  faith  of  science  and  the  "  supernatural " 

300 


KNOWLEDGE    AND   BELIEF 

faith  of  religion  —  are  not  infrequently  confounded, 
so  that  we  must  point  out  their  fundamental  differ- 
ence. Religious  faith  means  always  belief  in  a  mira- 
cle, and  as  such  is  in  hopeless  contradiction  with  the 
natural  faith  of  reason.  In  opposition  to  reason  it  pos- 
tulates supernatural  agencies,  and,  therefore,  may  be 
justly  called  superstition.  The  essential  difference  of 
this  superstition  from  rational  faith  lies  in  the  fact  that 
it  assumes  supernatural  forces  and  phenomena,  which 
are  unknown  and  inadmissible  to  science,  and  which 
are  the  outcome  of  illusion  and  fancy;  moreover,  su- 
perstition contradicts  the  well-known  laws  of  nature, 
and  is  therefore  irrational. 

Owing  to  the  great  progress  of  ethnology  during  the 
century,  we  have  learned  a  vast  quantity  of  different 
kinds  and  practices  of  superstition,  as  they  still  sur- 
vive in  uncivilized  races.  When  they  are  compared 
with  each  other  and  with  the  mythological  notion  of 
earlier  ages,  a  manifold  analogy  is  discovered,  fre- 
quently a  common  origin,  and  eventually  one  simple 
source  for  them  all.  This  is  found  in  the  "demand  of 
causality  in  reason/'  in  the  search  for  an  explanation 
of  obscure  phenomena  by  the  discovery  of  a  cause. 
That  applies  particularly  to  such  phenomena  as  threat- 
en us  with  danger  and  excite  fear,  like  thunder  and 
lightning,  earthquakes,  eclipses,  etc.  The  demand  for 
a  causal  explanation  of  such  phenomena  is  found  in 
uncivilized  races  of  the  lowest  grade,  transmitted  from 
their  primate  ancestors  by  heredity.  It  is  even  found 
in  many  other  vertebrates.  When  a  dog  barks  at  the 
full  moon,  or  at  a  ringing  bell,  of  which  it  sees  the  ham- 
mer moving,  or  at  a  flag  that  flutters  in  the  breeze,  it 
expresses  not  only  fear,  but  also  the  mysterious  im- 
pulse to  learn  the  cause  of  the  obscure  phenomenon. 

21  301 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

The  crude  beginnings  of  religion  among  primitive  races 
spring  partly  from  this  hereditary  superstition  of  their 
primate  ancestors,  and  partly  from  the  worship  of  an- 
cestors, from  various  emotional  impulses,  and  from 
habits  which  have  become  traditional. 

The  religious  notions  of  modern  civilized  peoples, 
which  they  esteem  so  highly,  profess  to  be  on  a  much 
higher  level  than  the  "crude  superstition"  of  the  sav- 
age; we  are  told  of  the  great  advance  which  civiliza- 
tion has  made  in  sweeping  it  aside.  That  is  a  great 
mistake.  Impartial  comparison  and  analysis  show 
that  they  only  differ  in  their  special  "form  of  faith" 
and  the  outer  shell  of  their  creed.  In  the  clear  light  of 
reason  the  refined  faith  of  the  most  liberal  ecclesiasti- 
cal religion — inasmuch  as  it  contradicts  the  known 
and  inviolable  laws  of  nature — is  no  less  irrational  a 
superstition  than  the  crude  spirit-faith  of  primitive 
fetichism  on  which  it  looks  down  with  proud  disdain. 

And  if,  from  this  impartial  stand-point,  we  take  a 
critical  glance  at  the  kinds  of  faith  that  prevail  to-day 
in  civilized  countries,  we  find  them  everywhere  satu- 
rated with  traditional  superstition.  The  Christian  be- 
lief in  Creation,  the  Trinity,  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion, the  Redemption,  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension 
of  Christ,  and  so  forth,  is  just  as  purely  imaginative  as 
the  belief  in  the  various  dogmas  of  the  Mohammedan, 
Mosaic,  Buddhistic,  and  Brahmanic  religions,  and  is 
just  as  incapable  of  reconciliation  with  a  rational  knowl- 
edge of  nature.  Each  of  these  religions  is  for  the  sin- 
cere believer  an  indisputable  truth,  and  each  regards 
the  other  as  heresy  and  damnable  error.  The  more 
confidently  a  particular  sect  considers  itself  "the  only 
ark  of  salvation,"  and  the  more  ardently  this  convic- 
tion is  cherished,  the  more  zealously  does  it  contend 

302 


KNOWLEDGE    AND    BELIEF 

against  all  other  sects  and  give  rise  to  the  fearful  re- 
ligious wars  that  form  the  saddest  pages  in  the  book  of 
history.  And  all  the  time  the  unprejudiced  "  critique  of 
pure  reason"  teaches  us  that  all  these  different  forms 
of  faith  are  equally  false  and  irrational,  mere  creatures 
of  poetic  fancy  and  uncritical  tradition.  Rational  sci- 
ence must  reject  them  all  alike  as  the  outcome  of  super- 
stition. 

The  incalculable  injury  which  irrational  superstition 
has  done  to  credulous  humanity  is  conspicuously  re- 
vealed in  the  ceaseless  conflict  of  confessions  of  faith. 
Of  all  the  wars  which  nations  have  waged  against  each 
other  with  fire  and  sword  the  religious  wars  have  been 
the  bloodiest ;  of  all  the  forms  of  discord  that  have  shat- 
tered the  happiness  of  families  and  of  individuals  those 
that  arise  from  religious  differences  are  still  the  most 
painful.  Think  of  the  millions  who  have  lost  their 
lives  in  Christian  persecutions,  in  the  religious  con- 
flicts of  Islam  and  of  the  Reformation,  by  the  Inquisi- 
tion, and  under  the  charge  of  witchcraft.  Or  think  of 
the  still  greater  number  of  luckless  men  who,  through 
religious  differences,  have  been  plunged  into  family 
troubles,  have  lost  the  esteem  of  their  fellow-citizens 
and  their  position  in  the  community,  or  have  even  been 
compelled  to  fly  from  their  country.  The  official  con- 
fession of  faith  becomes  most  pernicious  of  all  when  it  is 
associated  with  the  political  aims  of  a  modern  state,  and 
is  enforced  as  "religious  instruction"  in  our  schools. 
The  child's  mind  is  thus  early  diverted  from  the  pur- 
suit of  the  truth  and  impregnated  with  superstition. 
Every  friend  of  humanity  should  do  all  in  his  power 
to  promote  unsectarian  schools  as  one  of  the  most  val- 
uable institutions  of  the  modern  state. 

The  great  value  which  is,  none  the  less,  still  very 
3°3 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

widely  attached  to  sectarian  instruction  is  not  only  due 
to  the  compulsion  of  a  reactionary  state  and  its  depen- 
dence on  a  dominant  clericalism,  but  also  to  the  weight 
of  old  traditions  and  "  emotional  cravings  "  of  various 
kinds.  One  of  the  strongest  of  these  is  the  devout  rev- 
erence which  is  extended  everywhere  to  sectarian  tra- 
dition, to  the  "faith  of  our  fathers."  In  thousands  of 
stories  and  poems  fidelity  to  it  is  extolled  as  a  spiritual 
treasure  and  a  sacred  duty.  Yet  a  little  impartial  study 
of  the  history  of  faith  suffices  to  show  the  absurdity  of 
the  notion.  The  dominant  evangelical  faith  of  the 
second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  essentially  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  the  first  half,  and  this  again  from 
that  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  faith  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  diverges  considerably  from  the  "faith 
of  our  fathers"  of  the  seventeenth,  and  still  more  from 
that  of  the  sixteenth,  century.  The  Reformation,  re- 
leasing enslaved  reason  from  the  tyranny  of  the  popes, 
is  naturally  regarded  by  them  as  darkest  heresy ;  but 
even  the  faith  of  the  papacy  itself  had  been  completely 
transformed  in  the  course  of  a  century.  And  how  dif- 
ferent is  the  faith  of  the  Christian  from  that  of  his  heath- 
en ancestors.  Every  man  with  some  degree  of  inde- 
pendent thought  frames  a  more  or  less  personal  religion 
for  himself,  which  is  always  different  from  that  of  his 
fathers;  it  depends  largely  on  the  general  condition 
of  thought  in  his  day.  The  further  we  go  back  in 
the  history  of  civilization,  the  more  clearly  do  we  find 
this  esteemed  "  faith  of  our  fathers  "  to  be  an  indefen- 
sible superstition  which  is  undergoing  continual  trans- 
formation. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  forms  of  superstition, 
which  still  takes  a  very  active  part  in  modern  life,  is 
spiritism.  It  is  a  surprising  and  a  lamentable  fact 

3°4 


KNOWLEDGE    AND    BELIEF 

that  millions  of  educated  people  are  still  dominated  by 
this  dreary  superstition ;  even  distinguished  scientists 
are  entangled  in  it.  A  number  of  spiritualist  journals 
spread  the  faith  far  and  wide,  and  our  "  superior  cir- 
cles "  do  not  scruple  to  hold  seances  in  which  "  spirits  " 
appear,  rapping,  writing,  giving  messages  from  "  the 
beyond,"  and  so  on.  It  is  a  frequent  boast  of  spiritists 
that  even  eminent  men  of  science  defend  their  super- 
stition. In  Germany,  A.  Zollner  and  Fechner  are  quoted 
as  instances ;  in  England,  Wallace  and  Crookes.  The 
regrettable  circumstance  that  physicists  and  biologists 
of  such  distinction  have  been  led  astray  by  spiritism 
is  accounted  for,  partly  by  their  excess  of  imagination 
and  defect  of  critical  faculty,  and  partly  by  the  power- 
ful influence  of  dogmas  which  a  religious  education 
imprinted  on  the  brain  in  early  youth.  Moreover,  it 
was  precisely  through  the  famous  seances  at  Leipzig, 
in  which  the  physicists,  Zollner,  Fechner,  and  Wilhelm 
Weber,  were  imposed  on  by  the  clever  American  con- 
juror, Slade,  that  the  fraud  of  the  latter  was  afterwards 
fully  exposed ;  he  was  discovered  to  be  a  common  im- 
postor. In  other  cases,  too,  where  the  alleged  marvels 
of  spiritism  have  been  thoroughly  investigated,  they 
have  been  traced  to  a  more  or  less  clever  deception ;  the 
mediums  (generally  of  the  weaker  sex)  have  been  found 
to  be  either  smart  swindlers  or  nervous  persons  of 
abnormal  irritability.  Their  supposed  gift  of  "tele- 
pathy" (or  "action  at  a  distance  of  thought  without 
material  medium")  has  no  more  existence  than  the 
"voices"  or  the  "groans"  of  spirits,  etc.  The  vivid 
pictures  which  Carl  du  Prel,  of  Munich,  and  other  spir- 
itists give  of  their  phenomena  must  be  regarded  as  the 
outcome  of  a  lively  imagination,  together  with  a  lack 
of  critical  power  and  of  knowledge  of  physiology. 

3°5 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

The  majority  of  religions  have,  in  spite  of  their  great 
differences,  one  common  feature,  which  is,  at  the  same 
time,  one  of  their  strongest  supports  in  many  quarters. 
They  declare  that  they  can  elucidate  the  problem  of 
existence,  the  solution  of  which  is  beyond  the  natural 
power  of  reason,  by  the  supernatural  way  of  revelation ; 
from  that  they  derive  the  authority  of  the  dogmas  which 
in  the  guise  of  "  divine  laws  "  control  morality  and  the 
practical  conduct  of  life.  "  Divine  "  inspirations  of 
that  kind  form  the  basis  of  many  myths  and  legends, 
the  human  origin  of  which  is  perfectly  clear.  It  is 
true  that  the  God  who  reveals  himself  does  not  always 
appear  in  human  shape,  but  in  thunder  and  lightning, 
storm  and  earthquake,  fiery  bush  or  menacing  cloud. 
But  the  revelation  which  he  is  supposed  to  bring  to  the 
credulous  children  of  men  is  always  anthropomorphic ; 
it  invariably  takes  the  form  of  a  communication  of 
ideas  or  commands  which  are  formulated  and  expressed 
precisely  as  is  done  in  the  normal  action  of  the  human 
brain  and  larynx.  In  the  Indian  and  Egyptian  re- 
ligions, in  the  mythologies  of  Greece  and  Rome,  in  the 
Old  and  the  New  Testaments,  the  gods  think,  talk, 
and  act  just  as  men  do ;  the  revelations,  in  which  they 
are  supposed  to  unveil  for  us  the  secrets  of  existence 
and  the  solution  of  the  great  world-enigma,  are  crea- 
tions of  the  human  imagination.  The  "  truth  "  which 
the  credulous  discover  in  them  is  a  human  invention ; 
the  "  childlike  faith  "  in  these  irrational  revelations  is 
mere  superstition. 

The  true  revelation — that  is,  the  true  source  of  ra- 
tional knowledge — is  to  be  sought  in  nature  alone.  The 
rich  heritage  of  truth  which  forms  the  most  valuable 
part  of  human  culture  is  derived  exclusively  from  the 
experiences  acquired  in  a  searching  study  of  nature, 

306 


KNOWLEDGE    AND    BELIEF 

and  from  the  rational  conclusions  which  it  has  reached 
by  the  just  association  of  these  empirical  presentations. 
Every  intelligent  man  with  normal  brain  and  senses 
finds  this  true  revelation  in  nature  on  impartial  study, 
and  thus  frees  himself  from  the  superstition  with  which 
the  "  revelations  "  of  religion  had  burdened  him. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
SCIENCE  AND  CHRISTIANITY 

Increasing  Opposition  between  Modern  Science  and  Christian 
Theology—  The  Old  and  the  New  Faith—  Defence  of  Rational 
Science  against  the  Attacks  of  Christian  Superstition,  espe- 
cially against  Catholicism  —  Four  Periods  in  the  Evolution  of 
Christianity  :  I.  Primitive  Christianity  (the  First  Three  Cen- 
turies) —  The  Four  Canonical  Gospels  —  The  Epistles  of  Paul 
—  II.  The  Papacy  (Ult  amontane  Christianity)  —  Retrogres- 
sion of  Civilization  in  the  Middle  Ages  —  Ultramontane  Falsi- 
fication of  History  —  The  Papacy  and  Science  —  The  Papacy 
and  Christianity  —  III.  The  Reformation  —  Luther  and  Calvin 
—The  Year  of  Emancipation—  IV.  The  Pseudo-Christianity 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century—  The  Papal  Declaration  of  War 
against  Reason  and  Science  :  (a)  Infallibility,  (6)  The  Encyc- 
lica,  (c)  The  Immaculate  Conception 


of  the  most  distinctive  features  of  the  expiring 
century  is  the  increasing  vehemence  of  the  oppo- 
sition between  science  and  Christianity.  That  is  both 
natural  and  inevitable.  In  the  same  proportion  in 
which  the  victorious  progress  of  modern  science  has 
surpassed  all  the  scientific  achievements  of  earlier  ages 
has  the  untenability  been  proved  of  those  mystic  views 
which  would  subdue  reason  under  the  yoke  of  an  al- 
leged revelation  ;  and  the  Christian  religion  belongs  to 
that  group.  The  more  solidly  modern  astronomy, 
physics,  and  chemistry  have  established  the  sole  do- 
minion of  inflexible  natural  laws  in  the  universe  at 

308 


SCIENCE    AND   CHRISTIANITY 

large,  and  modern  botany,  zoology,  and  anthropology 
have  proved  the  validity  of  those  laws  in  the  entire  king- 
dom of  organic  nature,  so  much  the  more  strenuously 
has  the  Christian  religion,  in  association  with  dualistic 
metaphysics,  striven  to  deny  the  application  of  these 
natural  laws  in  the  province  of  the  so-called  "spiritual 
life" — that  is,  in  one  section  of  the  physiology  of  the 
brain. 

No  one  has  more  clearly,  boldly,  and  unanswerably 
enunciated  this  open  and  irreconcilable  opposition  be- 
tween the  modern  scientific  and  the  outworn  Christian 
view  than  David  Friedrich  Strauss,  the  greatest  theo- 
logian of  the  nineteenth  century.  His  last  work,  The 
Old  Faith  and  the  New,  is  a  magnificent  expression  of 
the  honest  conviction  of  all  educated  people  of  the  pres- 
ent day  who  understand  this  unavoidable  conflict  be- 
tween the  discredited,  dominant  doctrines  of  Christian- 
ity and  the  illuminating,  rational  revelation  of  modern 
science — all  those  who  have  the  courage  to  defend  the 
right  of  reason  against  the  pretensions  of  superstition, 
and  who  are  sensible  of  the  philosophic  demand  for  a 
unified  system  of  thought.  Strauss,  as  an  honorable 
and  courageous  free-thinker,  has  expounded  far  better 
than  I  could  the  principal  points  of  difference  between 
"the  old  and  the  new  faith."  The  absolute  irreconcil- 
ability of  the  opponents  and  the  inevitability  of  their 
struggle  ("for  life  or  death")  have  been  ably  presented 
on  the  philosophic  side  by  E.  Hartmann,  in  his  inter- 
esting work  on  The  Self -Destruction  of  Christianity. 

When  the  works  of  Strauss  and  Feuerbach  and  The 
History  of  the  Conflict  between  Religion  and  Science  of 
J.  W.  Draper  have  been  read,  it  may  seem  superfluous 
for  us  to  devote  a  special  chapter  to  the  subject.  Yet 
we  think  it  useful,  and  even  necessary  for  our  purpose, 

3°9 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

to  cast  a  critical  glance  at  the  historical  course  of  this 
great  struggle;  especially  seeing  that  the  attacks  of 
the  "Church  militant"  on  science  in  general,  and  on 
the  theory  of  evolution  in  particular,  have  become  ex- 
tremely bitter  and  menacing  of  late  years.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  mental  relaxation  which  has  lately  set  in, 
and  the  rising  flood  of  reaction  in  the  political,  social, 
and  ecclesiastical  world,  are  only  too  well  calculated  to 
give  point  to  those  dangers.  If  any  one  doubts  it,  he 
has  only  to  look  over  the  conduct  of  Christian  synods 
and  of  the  German  Reichstag  during  the  last  few  years. 
Quite  in  harmony  are  the  recent  efforts  of  many  secular 
governments  to  get  on  as  good  a  footing  as  possible 
with  the  "spiritual  regiment,"  their  deadly  enemy— 
that  is,  to  submit  to  its  yoke.  The  two  forces  find  a 
common  aim  in  the  suppression  of  free  thought  and 
free  scientific  research,  for  the  purpose  of  thus  more 
easily  securing  a  complete  despotism. 

Let  us  first  emphatically  protest  that  it  is  a  question 
for  us  of  the  necessary  defence  of  science  and  reason 
against  the  vigorous  attacks  of  the  Christian  Church 
and  its  vast  army,  not  of  an  unprovoked  attack  of 
science  on  religion.  And,  in  the  first  place,  our  defence 
must  be  prepared  against  Romanism  or  Ultramontan- 
ism.  This  "one  ark  of  salvation,"  this  Catholic  Church 
"  destined  for  all,"  is  not  only  much  larger  and  more 
powerful  than  the  other  Christian  sects,  but  it  has  the 
exceptional  advantage  of  a  vast,  centralized  organiza- 
tion and  an  unrivalled  political  ability.  Men  of  sci- 
ence are  often  heard  to  say  that  the  Catholic  supersti- 
tion is  no  more  astute  than  the  other  forms  of  supernat- 
ural faith,  and  that  all  these  insiduous  institutions  are 
equally  inimical  to  reason  and  science.  As  a  matter 
of  general  theoretical  principle  the  statement  may  pass, 

310 


SCIENCE    AND    CHRISTIANITY 

but  it  is  certainly  wrong  when  we  look  to  its  practical 
side.  The  deliberate  and  indiscriminate  attacks  of  the 
ultramontane  Church  on  science,  supported  by  the 
apathy  and  ignorance  of  the  masses,  are,  on  account 
of  its  powerful  organization,  much  more  severe  and 
dangerous  than  those  of  other  religions. 

In  order  to  appreciate  correctly  the  extreme  impor- 
tance of  Christianity  in  regard  to  the  entire  history  of 
civilization,  and  particularly  its  fundamental  oppo- 
sition to  reason  and  science,  we  must  briefly  run  over 
the  principal  stages  of  its  historical  evolution.  It  may 
be  divided  into  four  periods :  (i)  primitive  Christianity 
(the  first  three  centuries),  (2)  papal  Christianity  (twelve 
centuries,  from  the  fourth  to  the  fifteenth),  (3)  the  Ref- 
ormation (three  centuries,  from  the  sixteenth  to  the 
eighteenth),  and  (4)  modern  pseudo-Christianity. 

I.— PRIMITIVE  CHRISTIANITY 

Primitive  Christianity  embraces  the  first  three  cen- 
turies. Christ  himself,  the  noble  prophet  and  enthu- 
siast, so  full  of  the  love  of  humanity,  was  far  below  the 
level  of  classical  culture;  he  knew  nothing  beyond 
the  Jewish  traditions;  he  has  not  left  a  single  line  of 
writing.  He  had,  indeed,  no  suspicion  of  the  advanced 
stage  to  which  Greek  philosophy  and  science  had  pro- 
gressed five  hundred  years  before. 

All  that  we  know  of  him  and  of  his  original  teaching 
is  taken  from  the  chief  documents  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment— the  four  gospels  and  the  Pauline  epistles.  As 
to  the  four  canonical  gospels,  we  now  know  that  they 
were  selected  from  a  host  of  contradictory  and  forged 
manuscripts  of  the  first  three  centuries  by  the  three 
hundred  and  eighteen  bishops  who  assembled  at  the 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

Council  of  Nicaea  in  327.  The  entire  list  of  gospels 
numbered  forty ;  the  canonical  list  contains  four.  As 
the  contending  and  mutually  abusive  bishops  could 
not  agree  about  the  choice,  they  determined  to  leave 
the  selection  to  a  miracle.  They  put  all  the  books  (ac- 
cording to  the  Synodicon  of  Pappus)  together  under- 
neath the  altar,  and  prayed  that  the  apocryphal  books, 
of  human  origin,  might  remain  there,  and  the  genuine, 
inspired  books  might  be  miraculously  placed  on  the 
table  of  the  Lord.  And  that,  says  tradition,  really  oc- 
curred !  The  three  synoptic  gospels  (Matthew,  Mark, 
and  Luke — all  written  after  them,  not  by  them,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  second  century)  and  the  very  different 
fourth  gospel  (ostensibly  "after"  John,  written  about 
the  middle  of  the  second  century)  leaped  on  the  table, 
and  were  thenceforth  recognized  as  the  inspired  (with 
their  thousand  mutual  contradictions)  foundations  of 
Christian  doctrine.  If  any  modern  "unbeliever"  finds 
this  story  of  the  "  leap  of  the  sacred  books  "  incredible, 
we  must  remind  him  that  it  is  just  as  credible  as  the 
table-turning  and  spirit-rapping  that  are  believed  to 
take  place  to-day  by  millions  of  educated  people ;  and 
that  hundreds  of  millions  of  Christians  believe  just  as 
implicitly  in  their  personal  immortality,*  their  "resur- 
rection from  the  dead,"  and  the  Trinity  of  God — dog- 
mas that  contradict  pure  reason  no  more  and  no  less 
than  that  miraculous  bound  of  the  gospel  manuscripts. 
The  most  important  sources  after  the  gospels  are  the 
fourteen  separate  (and  generaFy  forged)  epistles  of 
Paul.  The  genuine  Pauline  epistles  (three  in  number, 
according  to  recent  criticism — to  the  Romans,  Gala- 
tians,  and  Corinthians)  were  written  before  the  canoni- 
cal gospels,  and  contain  less  incredible  miraculous  mat- 
ter than  they.  They  are  also  more  concerned  than  the 

312 


SCIENCE    AND   CHRISTIANITY 

gospels  to  adjust  themselves  with  a  rational  view  of 
the  world.  Hence  the  advanced  theology  of  modern 
times  constructs  its  "ideal  Christianity"  rather  on  the 
base  of  the  Pauline  epistles  than  on  the  gospels,  so 
that  it  has  been  called  "Paulinism." 

The  remarkable  personality  of  Paul,  who  possessed 
much  more  culture  and  practical  sense  than  Christ,  is 
extremely  interesting,  from  the  anthropological  point 
of  view,  from  the  fact  that  the  racial  origin  of  the  two 
great  religious  founders  is  very  much  the  same.  Re- 
cent historical  investigation  teaches  that  Paul's  father 
was  of  Greek  nationality,  and  his  mother  of  Jewish.* 
The  half-breeds  of  these  two  races,  which  are  so  very 
distant  in  origin  (although  they  are  branches  of  the 
same  species,  the  homo  mediterraneus) ,  are  often  dis- 
tinguished by  a  happy  blending  of  talents  and  tem- 
perament, as  we  find  in  many  recent  and  actual  in- 
stances. The  plastic  Oriental  imagination  and  the 
critical  Western  reason  often  admirably  combine  and 
complete  each  other.  That  is  visible  in  the  Pauline 
teaching,  which  soon  obtained  a  greater  influence  than 
the  earliest  Christian  notions.  Hence  it  is  not  incor- 
rect to  consider  Paulinism  a  new  phenomenon,  of  which 
the  father  was  the  philosophy  of  the  Greeks,  and  the 
mother  the  religion  of  the  Jews.  Neoplatonism  is  an 
analogous  combination. 

As  to  the  real  teaching  and  aims  of  Christ  (and  as 
to  many  important  aspects  of  his  life)  the  views  of  con- 
flicting theologians  diverge  more  and  more,  as  histori- 
cal criticism  (Strauss,  Feuerbach,  Baur,  Renan,  etc.) 
puts  the  accessible  facts  in  their  true  light,  and  draws 
impartial  conclusions  from  them.  Two  things,  cer- 

*  As  to  the  Greek  paternity  of  Christ,  vide  p.  328. 
313 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

tainly,  remain  beyond  dispute — the  lofty  principle  of 
universal  charity  and  the  fundamental  maxim  of  ethics, 
the  *  golden  rule/'  that  issues  therefrom;  both,  how- 
ever, existed  in  theory  and  in  practice  centuries  before 
the  time  of  Christ  (cf.  chap.  xix.).  For  the  rest,  the 
Christians  of  the  early  centuries  were  generally  pure 
Communists,  sometimes  "  Social  Democrats,"  who,  ac- 
cording to  the  prevailing  theory  in  Germany  to-day, 
ought  to  have  been  exterminated  with  fire  and  sword. 

II.— PAPAL  CHRISTIANITY 

Latin  Christianity,  variously  called  Papistry,  Ro- 
manism, Vaticanism,  Ultramontanism,  or  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  phe- 
nomena in  the  history  of  civilized  man ;  in  spite  of  the 
storms  that  have  swept  over  it,  it  still  exerts  a  most  pow- 
erful influence.  Of  the  four  hundred  and  ten  million 
Christians  who  are  scattered  over  the  earth  the  majori- 
ty— that  is,  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  millions — 
are  Roman  Catholics;  there  are  seventy-five  million 
Greek  Catholics  and  one  hundred  and  ten  million 
Protestants.  During  a  period  of  one  thousand  two 
hundred  years,  from  the  fourth  to  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, the  papacy  has  almost  absolutely  controlled  and 
tainted  the  spiritual  life  of  Europe ;  on  the  other  hand, 
it  has  won  but  little  territory  from  the  ancient  religions 
of  Asia  and  Africa.  In  Asia  Buddhism  still  counts 
five  hundred  and  three  million  followers,  the  Brah- 
manic  religion  one  hundred  and  thirty-  eight  millions, 
and  Islam  one  hundred  and  twenty  millions. 

It  is  the  despotism  of  the  papacy  that  lent  its  darkest 
character  to  the  Middle  Ages;  it  meant  death  to  all 
freedom  of  mental  life,  decay  to  all  science,  corruption 


SCIENCE    AND    CHRISTIANITY 

to  all  morality.  From  the  noble  height  to  which  the 
life  of  the  human  mind  had  attained  in  classical  an- 
tiquity, in  the  centuries  before  Christ  and  the  first  cen- 
tury after  Christ,  it  soon  sank,  under  the  rule  of  the 
papacy,  to  a  level  which,  in  respect  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  truth,  can  only  be  termed  barbarism.  It  is  often 
protested  that  other  aspects  of  mental  life — poetry  and 
architecture,  scholastic  learning  and  patristic  philos- 
ophy— were  richly  developed  in  the  Middle  Ages.  But 
this  activity  was  in  the  service  of  the  Church;  it  did 
not  tend  to  the  cultivation,  but  to  the  suppression,  of 
free  mental  research.  The  exclusive  preparing  for  an 
unknown  eternity  beyond  the  tomb,  the  contempt  of 
nature,  the  withdrawal  from  the  study  of  it,  which  are 
essential  elements  of  Christianity,  were  urged  as  a 
sacred  duty  by  the  Roman  hierarchy.  It  was  not  until 
the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  that  a  change 
for  the  better  came  in  with  the  Reformation. 

It  is  impossible  for  us  here  to  describe  the  pitiful  ret- 
rogression of  culture  and  morality  during  the  twelve 
centuries  of  the  spiritual  despotism  of  Rome.  It  is  very 
pith'ly  expressed  in  a  saying  of  the  -greatest  and  the 
ablest  of  the  Hohenzollerns ;  Frederick  the  Great  con- 
densed his  judgment  in  the  phrase  that  the  study  of  his- 
tory led  one  to  think  that  from  Constantine  to  the  date 
of  the  Reformation  the  whole  world  was  insane.  L. 
Biichner  has  given  us  an  admirable,  brief  description 
of  this  "period  of  insanity"  in  his  work  on  Religious 
and  Scientific  Systems.  The  reader  who  desires  a  closer 
acquaintance  with  the  subject  would  do  well  to  consult 
the  historical  works  of  Ranke,  Draper,  Kolb,  Svoboda, 
etc.  The  truthful  description  of  the  awful  condition  of 
the  Christian  Middle  Ages,  which  is  given  by  these  and 
other  unprejudiced  historians,  is  confirmed  by  all  the 

3*5 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

reliable  sources  of  investigation,  and  by  the  historical 
monuments  which  have  come  down  from  the  saddest 
period  of  human  history.  Educated  Catholics,  who  are 
sincere  truth-seekers,  cannot  be  too  frequently  recom- 
mended to  study  these  historical  sources  for  themselves. 
This  is  the  more  necessary  as  ultramontane  literature 
has  still  a  considerable  influence.  The  old  trick  of  de- 
ceiving the  faithful  by  a  complete  reversal  of  facts  and 
an  invention  of  miraculous  circumstances  is  still  work- 
ed by  it  with  great  success.  We  will  only  mention 
Lourdes  and  the  "  Holy  Coat  "  of  Treves.  The  ultra- 
montane professor  of  history  at  Frankfurt,  Johannes 
Janssen,  affords  a  striking  example  of  the  length  they 
will  go  in  distorting  historical  truth;  his  much-read 
works  (especially  his  History  of  the  German  People 
since  the  Middle  Ages)  are  marred  by  falsification  to  an 
incredible  extent.  The  untruthfulness  of  these  Jesu- 
itical productions  is  on  a  level  with  the  credulity  and 
the  uncritical  judgment  of  the  simple  German  nation 
that  takes  them  for  gospel. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  historical  facts 
which  clearly  prove  the  evil  of  the  ultramontane  des- 
potism is  its  vigorous  and  consistent  struggle  with  sci- 
ence. This  was  determined  on,  in  principle,  from  the 
very  beginning  of  Christianity,  inasmuch  as  it  set  faith 
above  reason  and  preached  the  blind  subjection  of  the 
one  to  the  other;  that  was  natural,  seeing  that  our 
whole  life  on  earth  was  held  to  be  only  a  preparation 
for  the  legendary  life  beyond,  and  thus  scientific  re- 
search was  robbed  of  any  real  value.  The  deliberate 
and  successful  attack  on  science  began  in  the  early 
part  of  the  fourth  century,  particularly  after  the  Coun- 
cil of  Nicaea  (327),  presided  over  by  Constantine — called 
the  "Great"  because  he  raised  Christianity  to  the  po- 

316 


SCIENCE    AND    CHRISTIANITY 

sition  of  a  state  religion,  and  founded  Constantinople, 
though  a  worthless  character,  a  false-hearted  hypo- 
crite, and  a  murderer.  The  success  of  the  papacy  in  its 
conflict  with  independent  scientific  thought  and  in- 
quiry is  best  seen  in  the  distressing  condition  of  sci- 
ence and  its  literature  during  the  Middle  Ages.  Not 
only  were  the  rich  literary  treasures  that  classical  an- 
tiquity had  bequeathed  to  the  world  destroyed  for  the 
most  part,  or  withdrawn  from  circulation,  but  the  rack 
and  the  stake  insured  the  silence  of  every  heretic — 
that  is,  every  independent  thinker.  If  he  did  not  keep 
his  thoughts  to  himself,  he  had  to  look  forward  to  being 
burned  alive,  as  was  the  fate  of  the  great  monistic  phi- 
losopher, Giordano  Bruno,  the  reformer,  John  Huss,and 
more  than  a  hundred  thousand  other  "  witnesses  to  the 
truth."  The  history  of  science  in  the  Middle  Ages 
teaches  us  on  every  page  that  independent  thought 
and  empirical  research  were  completely  buried  for 
twelve  sad  centuries  under  the  oppression  of  the  om- 
nipotent papacy. 

All  that  we  esteem  in  true  Christianity,  in  the  sense 
of  its  founder  and  of  his  noblest  followers,  and  that  we 
must  endeavor  to  save  from  the  inevitable  wreck  of  this 
great  world  religion  for  our  new  monistic  religion,  lies 
on  its  ethical  and  social  planes.  The  principles  of  true 
humanism,  the  golden  rule,  the  spirit  of  tolerance,  the 
love  of  man,  in  the  best  and  highest  sense  of  the  word — 
all  these  true  graces  of  Christianity  were  not,  indeed, 
first  discovered  and  given  to  the  world  by  that  religion, 
but  were  successfully  developed  in  the  critical  period 
when  classical  antiquity  was  hastening  to  its  doom. 
The  papacy,  however,  has  attempted  to  convert  all 
those  virtues  into  the  direct  contrary,  and  still  to  hang 
out  the  sign  of  the  old  firm.  Instead  of  Christian  char- 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

ky,  it  introduced  a  fanatical  hatred  of  the  followers  of 
all  other  religions ;  with  fire  and  sword  it  has  pursued, 
not  only  the  heathen,  but  every  Christian  sect  that 
dared  resist  the  imposition  of  ultramontane  dogma. 
Tribunals  for  heretics  were  erected  all  over  Europe, 
yielding  unnumbered  victims,  whose  torments  seemed 
only  to  fill  their  persecutors,  with  all  their  Christian 
charity,  with  a  peculiar  satisfaction.  The  power  of 
Rome  was  directed  mercilessly  for  centuries  against 
everything  that  stood  in  its  way.  Under  the  notorious 
Torquemada  (1481-98),  in  Spain  alone  eight  thousand 
heretics  were  burned  alive  and  ninety  thousand  pun- 
ished with  the  confiscation  of  their  goods  and  the 
most  grievous  ecclesiastical  fines ;  in  the  Netherlands, 
under  the  rule  of  Charles  V.,  at  least  fifty  thousand 
men  fell  victims  to  the  clerical  bloodthirst.  And  while 
the  heavens  resounded  with  the  cry  of  the  martyrs,  the 
wealth  of  half  the  world  was  pouring  into  Rome,  to 
which  the  whole  of  Christianity  paid  tribute,  and  the 
self-styled  representatives  of  God  on  earth  and  their 
accomplices  (not  infrequently  Atheists  themselves)  wal- 
lowed in  pleasure  and  vice  of  every  description.  "And 
all  these  privileges,"  said  the  frivolous,  syphilitic  Pope, 
Leo  X.,  "have  been  secured  to  us  by  the  fable  of  Jesus 
Christ." 

Yet,  with  all  the  discipline  of  the  Church  and  the 
fear  of  God,  the  condition  of  European  society  was 
pitiable.  Feudalism,  serfdom,  the  grace  of  God,  and 
the  favor  of  the  monks  ruled  the  land ;  the  poor  helots 
were  only  too  glad  to  be  permitted  to  raise  their  mis- 
erable huts  under  the  shadow  of  the  castle  or  the  clois- 
ter, their  secular  and  spiritual  oppressors  and  exploit- 
ers. Even  to-day  we  suffer  from  the  aftermath  of  these 
awful  ages  and  conditions,  in  which  there  was  no  ques- 

318 


SCIENCE    AND   CHRISTIANITY 

tion  of  care  for  science  or  higher  mental  culture  save 
in  rare  circumstances  and  in  secret.  Ignorance,  pov- 
erty, and  superstition  combined  with  the  immoral  op- 
eration of  the  law  of  celibacy,  which  had  been  intro- 
duced in  the  eleventh  century,  to  consolidate  the  ever- 
growing power  of  the  papacy.  It  has  been  calculated 
that  there  were  more  than  ten  million  victims  of  fa- 
natical religious  hatred  during  this  " Golden  Age"  of 
papal  domination;  and  how  many  more  million  hu- 
man victims  must  be  put  to  the  account  of  celibacy, 
oral  confession,  and  moral  constraint,  the  most  per- 
nicious and  accursed  institutions  of  the  papal  despot- 
ism! Unbelieving  philosophers,  who  have  collected 
disproofs  of  the  existence  of  God,  have  overlooked  one 
of  the  strongest  arguments  in  that  sense — the  fact  that 
the  Roman  "  Vicar  of  Christ "  could  for  twelve  centu- 
ries perpetrate  with  impunity  the  most  shameful  and 
horrible  deeds  "in  the  name  of  God." 


III.— THE  REFORMATION 

The  history  of  civilization,  which  we  are  so  fond  of 
calling  "the  history  of  the  world,"  enters  upon  its  third 
period  with  the  Reformation  of  the  Christian  Church, 
just  as  its  second  period  begins  with  the  founding  of 
Christianity.  With  the  Reformation  begins  the  new 
birth  of  fettered  reason,  the  reawakening  of  science, 
which  the  iron  hand  of  the  Christian  papacy  had  re- 
lentlessly crushed  for  twelve  hundred  years.  At  the 
same  time  the  spread  of  general  education  had  already 
commenced,  owing  to  the  invention  of  printing  about 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century;  and  towards  its 
close  several  great  events  occurred,  especially  the  dis- 
covery of  America  in  1492,  which  prepared  the  way  for 


THE    RIDDLE    OF  THE    UNIVERSE 

the  "renaissance  "  of  science  in  company  with  that  of  art. 
Indeed,  certain  very  important  advances  were  made  in 
the  knowledge  of  nature  during  the  first  half  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  which  shook  the  prevailing  system  to 
its  very  foundations.  Such  were  the  circumnaviga- 
tion of  the  globe  by  Magellan  in  1522,  which  afforded 
empirical  proof  of  its  rotundity,  and  the  founding  of 
the  new  system  of  the  world  by  Copernicus  in  1543. 

Yet  the  3ist  of  October  in  the  year  1517,  the  day  on 
which  Martin  Luther  nailed  his  ninety-five  theses  to 
the  wooden  door  of  Wittenburg  Cathedral,  must  be 
regarded  as  the  commencement  of  a  new  epoch;  for 
on  that  day  was  forced  the  iron  door  of  the  prison  in 
which  the  Papal  Church  had  detained  fettered  reason 
for  twelve  hundred  years.  The  merits  of  the  great  re- 
former have  been  partly  exaggerated,  partly  underesti- 
mated. It  has  been  justly  pointed  out  that  Luther,  like 
all  the  other  reformers,  remained  in  manifold  subjection 
to  the  deepest  superstition.  Thus  he  was  throughout 
life  a  supporter  of  the  rigid  dogma  of  the  verbal  inspi- 
ration of  the  Bible;  he  zealously  maintained  the  doc- 
trines of  the  resurrection,  original  sin,  predestination, 
justification  by  faith,  etc.  He  rejected  as  folly  the 
great  discovery  of  Copernicus,  because  in  the  Bible 
"  Joshua  bade  the  sun,  not  the  earth,  stand  still."  He 
utterly  failed  to  appreciate  the  great  political  revolu- 
tions of  his  time,  especially  the  profound  and  just  agi- 
tation of  the  peasantry.  Worse  still  was  the  fanatical 
Calvin,  of  Geneva,  who  had  the  talented  Spanish  phy- 
sician, Serveto,  burned  alive  in  1553,  because  he  re- 
jected the  absurd  dogma  of  the  Trinity.  The  fanati- 
cal "true  believers"  of  the  reformed  Church  followed 
only  too  frequently  in  the  blood-stained  footsteps  of 
their  papal  enemies ;  as  they  do  even  in  our  own  day. 

320 


SCIENCE    AND    CHRISTIANITY 

Deeds  of  unparalleled  cruelty  followed  in  the  train  of 
the  Reformation — the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
and  the  persecution  of  the  Huguenots  in  France,  bloody 
heretic-hunts  in  Italy,  civil  war  in  England,  and  the 
Thirty  Years  War  in  Germany.  Yet,  in  spite  of  those 
grave  blemishes,  to  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies belongs  the  honor  of  once  more  opening  a  free 
path  to  the  thoughtful  mind,  and  delivering  reason 
from  the  oppressive  yoke  of  the  papacy.  Thus  only 
was  made  possible  that  great  development  of  different 
tendencies  in  critical  philosophy  and  of  new  paths  in  sci- 
ence which  won  for  the  subsequent  eighteenth  century 
the  honorable  title  of  *  the  century  of  enlightenment." 

IV.— THE  PSEUDO-CHRISTIANITY  OF  THE  NINE- 
TEENTH CENTURY 

As  the  fourth  and  last  stage  in  the  history  of  Chris- 
tianity we  oppose  our  nineteenth  century  to  all  its  prede- 
cessors. It  is  true  that  the  enlightenment  of  preceding 
centuries  had  promoted  critical  thought  in  every  direc- 
tion, and  the  rise  of  science  itself  had  furnished  pow- 
erful empirical  weapons;  yet  it  seems  to  us  that  our 
progress  along  both  lines  has  been  quite  phenomenal 
during  the  nineteenth  century.  It  has  inaugurated 
an  entirely  new  period  in  the  history  of  the  human  mind, 
characterized  by  the  development  of  the  monistic  phi- 
losophy of  nature.  At  its  very  commencement  the 
foundations  were  laid  of  a  new  anthropology  (by  the 
comparative  anatomy  of  Cuvier)  and  of  a  new  biology 
(by  the  Philosophic  Zoologique  of  Lamarck).  The  two 
great  French  scientists  were  quickly  succeeded  by  two 
contemporary  German  scholars — Baer,  the  founder 
of  the  science  of  evolution,  and  Johannes  Miiller,  the 

321 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

founder  of  comparative  morphology  and  physiology. 
A  pupil  of  Miiller,  Theodor  Schwann,  created  the  far- 
reaching  cellular  theory  in  1838,  in  conjunction  with 
M.  Schleiden.  Lyell  had  already  traced  the  evolution 
of  the  earth  to  natural  causes,  and  thus  proved  the  ap- 
plication to  our  planet  of  the  mechanical  cosmogony 
which  Kant  had  sketched  with  so  much  insight  in  1755. 
Finally,  Robert  Mayer  and  Helmholtz  established  the 
principle  of  energy  in  1842 — the  second,  complement- 
ary half  of  the  great  law  of  substance,  the  first  half 
of  which  (the  persistence  of  matter)  had  been  previous- 
ly discovered  by  Lavoisier.  Forty  years  ago  Charles 
Darwin  crowned  all  these  profound  revelations  of  the 
intimate  nature  of  the  universe  by  his  new  theory  of 
evolution,  the  greatest  natural -philosophical  achieve- 
ment of  our  century. 

What  is  the  relation  of  modern  Christianity  to  this 
vast  and  unparalleled  progress  of  science?  In  the  first 
place,  the  deep  gulf  between  its  two  great  branches, 
conservative  Romanism  and  progressive  Protestant- 
ism, has  naturally  widened.  The  ultramontane  clergy 
(and  we  must  associate  with  them  the  orthodox  "  evan- 
gelical alliance  ")  had  naturally  to  offer  a  strenuous 
opposition  to  this  rapid  advance  of  the  emancipated 
mind;  they  continued  unmoved  in  their  rigid  literal 
^belief,  demanding  the  unconditional  surrender  of  rea- 
son to  dogma.  Liberal  Protestantism,  on  the  other 
hand,  took  refuge  in  a  kind  of  monistic  pantheism,  and 
sought  a  means  of  reconciling  two  contradictory  prin- 
ciples. It  endeavored  to  combine  the  unavoidable 
recognition  of  the  established  laws  of  nature,  and  the 
philosophic  conclusions  that  followed  from  them,  with 
a  purified  form  of  religion,  in  which  scarcely  anything 
remained  of  the  distinctive  teaching  of  faith.  There 

322 


SCIENCE    AND    CHRISTIANITY 

were  many  attempts  at  compromise  to  be  found  between 
the  two  extremes;  but  the  conviction  rapidly  spread 
that  dogmatic  Christianity  had  lost  every  foundation, 
and  that  only  its  valuable  ethical  contents  should  be 
saved  for  the  new  monistic  religion  of  the  twentieth 
century.  As,  however,  the  existing  external  forms 
of  the  dominant  Christian  religion  remained  unaltered, 
and  as,  in  spite  of  a  progressive  political  development, 
they  are  more  intimately  than  ever  connected  with  the 
practical  needs  of  the  State,  there  has  arisen  that  wide- 
spread religious  profession  in  educated  spheres  which 
we  can  only  call  "  pseudo-Christianity  " — at  the  bot- 
tom it  is  a  "  religious  lie  "  of  the  worst  character.  The 
great  dangers  which  attend  this  conflict  between  sin- 
cere conviction  and  the  hypocritical  profession  of  mod- 
ern pseudo-Christians  are  admirably  described  in  Max 
Nordau's  interesting  work  on  The  Conventional  Lies 
of  Civilization. 

In  the  midst  of  this  obvious  falseness  of  prevalent 
pseudo-Christianity  there  is  one  favorable  circumstance 
for  the  progress  of  a  rational  study  of  nature :  its  most 
powerful  and  bitterest  enemy,  the  Roman  Church, 
threw  off  its  mask  of  ostensible  concern  for  higher  men- 
tal development  about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  declared  a  guerre  a  I'outrance  against  in- 
dependent science.  This  happened  in  three  important 
challenges  to  reason,  for  the  explicitness  and  resolute- 
ness of  which  modern  science  and  culture  cannot  but 
be  grateful  to  the  "  Vicar  of  Christ."  (i)  In  Decem- 
ber, 1854,  the  pope  promulgated  the  dogma  of  the  im- 
maculate conception  of  Mary.  (2)  Ten  years  after- 
wards—  in  December,  1864  —  the  pope  published,  in 
his  famous  encyclica,  an  absolute  condemnation  of  the 
whole  of  modern  civilization  and  culture ;  in  the  sylla- 

323 


THE    RIDDLE   OF  THE    UNIVERSE 

that  accompanied  it  he  enumerated  and  anathe- 
matized all  the  rational  theses  and  philosophical  prin- 
ciples which  are  regarded  by  modern  science  as  lucid 
truths.  (3)  Finally,  six  years  afterwards — on  July 
13,  1870 — the  militant  head  of  the  Church  crowned 
his  folly  by  claiming  infallibility  for  himself  and  all 
his  predecessors  in  the  papal  chair.  This  triumph 
of  the  Roman  curia  was  communicated  to  the  aston- 
ished world  five  days  afterwards,  on  the  very  day  on 
which  France  declared  war  with  Prussia.  Two  months 
later  the  temporal  power  of  the  pope  was  taken  from 
him  in  consequence  of  the  war. 

These  three  stupendous  acts  of  the  papacy  were  such 
obvious  assaults  on  the  reason  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury that  they  gave  rise,  from  the  very  beginning,  to 
a  most  heated  discussion  even  within  orthodox  Catho- 
lic circles.  When  the  Vatican  Council  proceeded  to 
define  the  dogma  of  infallibility  on  July  13,  1870, 
only  three-fourths  of  the  bishops  declared  in  its  favor, 
451  out  of  601  assenting;  many  other  bishops,  who 
wished  to  keep  clear  of  the  perilous  definition,  were  ab- 
sent from  the  council.  But  the  shrewd  pontiff  had 
calculated  better  than  the  timid  "  discreet  Catholics  " : 
even  this  extraordinary  dogma  was  blindly  accepted  by 
the  credulous  and  uneducated  masses  of  the  faithful. 

The  whole  history  of  the  papacy,  as  it  is  substanti- 
ated by  a  thousand  reliable  sources  and  accessible  doc- 
uments, appears  to  the  impartial  student  as  an  un- 
scrupulous tissue  of  lying  and  deceit,  a  reckless  pur- 
suit of  absolute  mental  despotism  and  secular  power, 
a  frivolous  contradiction  of  all  the  high  moral  pre- 
cepts which  true  Christianity  enunciates — charity  and 
toleration,  truth  and  chastity,  poverty  and  self-denial. 
When  we  judge  the  long  series  of  popes  and  of  the  Ro< 

324 


SCIENCE    AND    CHRISTIANITY 

man  princes  of  the  Church,  from  whom  the  pope  is 
chosen,  by  the  standard  of  pure  Christian  morality, 
it  is  clear  that  the  great  majority  of  them  were  pitiful 
impostors,  many  of  them  utterly  worthless  and  vicious. 
These  well-known  historical  facts,  however,  do  not 
prevent  millions  of  educated  Catholics  from  admitting 
the  infallibility  which  the  pope  has  claimed  for  himself ; 
they  do  not  prevent  Protestant  princes  from  going  to 
Rome,  and  doing  reverence  to  the  pontiff  (their  most 
dangerous  enemy) ;  they  do  not  prevent  the  fate  of  the 
German  people  from  being  intrusted  to-day  to  the  hands 
of  the  servants  and  followers  of  this  *  pious  impostor  " 
in  the  Reichstag — thanks  to  the  incredible  political 
indolence  and  credulity  of  the  nation. 

The  most  interesting  of  the  three  great  events  by 
which  ttie  papacy  has  endeavored  to  maintain  and 
strengthen  its  despotism  in  the  nineteenth  century  is 
the  publication  of  the  encyclica  and  the  syllabus  in 
December,  1864.  In  these  remarkable  documents  all 
independent  action  was  forbidden  to  reason  and  science, 
and  they  were  commanded  to  submit  implicitly  to  faith 
— that  is,  to  the  decrees  of  the  infallible  pope.  The 
great  excitement  which  followed  this  sublime  piece  of 
effrontery  in  educated  and  independent  circles  was  in 
proportion  with  the  stupendous  contents  of  the  ency- 
clica. Draper  has  given  us  an  excellent  discussion 
of  its  educational  and  political  significance  in  his  His- 
tory of  the  Conflict  between  Science  and  Religion. 

The  dogma  of  the  immaculate  conception  seems, 
perhaps,  to  be  less  audacious  and  significant  than  the 
encyclica  and  the  dogma  of  the  infallibility  of  the  pope. 
Yet  not  only  the  Roman  hierarchy,  but  even  some  of 
the  orthodox  Protestants  (the  Evangelical  Alliance, 
for  instance),  attach  great  importance  to  this  thesis. 

325 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

What  is  known  as  the  "  immaculate  oath  " — that  is, 
the  confirmation  of  faith  by  an  oath  taken  on  the  im- 
maculate conception  of  Mary — is  still  regarded  by  mill- 
ions of  Christians  as  a  sacred  obligation.  Many 
believers  take  the  dogma  in  a  twofold  application; 
they  think  that  the  mother  of  Mary  was  impregnated 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  as  well  as  Mary  herself.  Compara- 
tive and  critical  theology  has  recently  shown  that  this 
myth  has  no  greater  claim  to  originality  than  most  of 
the  other  stories  in  the  Christian  mythology;  it  has 
been  borrowed  from  older  religions,  especially  Buddhism. 
Similar  myths  were  widely  circulated  in  India,  Persia, 
Asia  Minor,  and  Greece  several  centuries  before  the 
birth  of  Christ.  Whenever  a  king's  unwedded  daugh- 
ter, or  some  other  maid  of  high  degree,  gave  birth  to  a 
child,  the  father  was  always  pronounced  to  be  a  god, 
or  a  demi-god;  in  the  Christian  case  it  was  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

The  special  endowments  of  mind  or  body  which  often 
distinguished  these  "  children  of  love  "  above  ordinary 
offspring  were  thus  partly  explained  by  "  heredity." 
Distinguished  "  sons  of  God  "  of  this  kind  were  held  in 
high  esteem  both  in  antiquity  and  during  the  Middle 
Ages,  while  the  moral  code  of  modern  civilization  re- 
proaches them  with  their  want  of  honorable  parentage. 
This  applies  even  more  forcibly  to  "  daughters  of  God," 
though  the  poor  maidens  are  just  as  little  to  blame  for 
their  want  of  a  father.  For  the  rest,  every  one  who  is 
familiar  with  the  beautiful  mythology  of  classical  an- 
tiquity knows  that  these  sons  and  daughters  of  the 
Greek  and  Roman  gods  often  approach  nearest  to  the 
highest  ideal  of  humanity.  Recollect  the  large  legiti- 
mate family,  and  the  still  more  numerous  illegitimate 
offspring,  of  Zeus. 

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SCIENCE    AND    CHRISTIANITY 

To  return  to  the  particular  question  of  the  impreg- 
nation of  the  Virgin  Mary  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  are 
referred  to  the  gospels  for  testimony  to  the  fact.  The 
only  two  evangelists  who  speak  of  it,  Matthew  and 
Luke,  relate  in  harmony  that  the  Jewish  maiden  Mary 
was  betrothed  to  the  carpenter  Joseph,  but  became  preg- 
nant without  his  co-operation,  and, indeed,  "by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  As  we  have  already  related,  the  four  canonical 
gospels  which  are  regarded  as  the  only  genuine  ones  by 
the  Christian  Church,  and  adopted  as  the  foundation  of 
faith,  were  deliberately  chosen  from  a  much  larger  num- 
ber of  gospels,  the  details  of  which  contradict  each  other 
sometimes  just  as  freely  as  the  assertions  of  the  four. 
The  fathers  of  the  Church  enumerate  from  forty  to  fifty 
of  these  spurious  or  apocryphal  gospels ;  some  of  them 
are  written  both  in  Greek  and  Latin — for  instance,  the 
gospel  of  James,  of  Thomas,  of  Nicodemus,  and  so 
forth.  The  details  which  these  apocryphal  gospels 
give  of  the  life  of  Christ,  especially  with  regard  to  his 
birth  and  childhood,  have  just  as  much  (or,  on  the 
whole,  just  as  little)  claim  to  historical  validity  as  the 
four  canonical  gospels. 

Now  we  find  in  one  of  these  documents  an  historical 
statement,  confirmed,  moreover,  in  the  Sepher  Toldoth 
Jeschua,  which  probably  furnishes  the  simple  and  nat- 
ural solution  of  the  "  world-riddle  "  of  the  supernatural 
conception  and  birth  of  Christ.  The  author  curtly 
gives  us  in  one  sentence  the  remarkable  statement 
which  contains  this  solution:  "Josephus  Pandera,  the 
Roman  officer  of  a  Calabrian  legion  ^  which  was  in 
Judaea,  seduced  Miriam  of  Bethlehem,  and  was  the 
father  of  Jesus."  Other  details  given  about  Miriam 
(the  Hebrew  name  for  Mary)  are  far  from  being  to  the 
credit  of  the  "  Queen  of  Heaven." 

327 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

Naturally,  these  historical  details  are  carefully  avoid- 
ed by  the  official  theologian,  but  they  assort  badly  with 
the  traditional  myth,  and  lift  the  veil  from  its  mystery 
in  a  very  simple  and  natural  fashion.  That  makes  it 
the  more  incumbent  on  impartial  research  and  pure 
reason  to  make  a  critical  examination  of  these  state- 
ments. It  must  be  admitted  that  they  have  much  more 
title  to  credence  than  all  the  other  statements  about  the 
birth  of  Christ.  When,  on  familiar  principles  of  science, 
we  put  aside  the  notion  of  supernatural  conception 
through  an  "overshadowing  of  the  Most  High"  as  a 
pure  myth,  there  only  remains  the  widely  accepted  ver- 
sion of  modern  rational  theology — that  Joseph,  the 
Jewish  carpenter,  was  the  true  father  of  Christ.  But 
this  assumption  is  explicitly  contradicted  by  many 
texts  of  the  gospels ;  Christ  himself  was  convinced  that 
he  was  a  "  Son  of  God,"  and  he  never  recognized  his 
foster-father,  Joseph,  as  his  real  parent.  Joseph,  indeed, 
wanted  to  leave  his  betrothed  when  he  found  her  preg- 
nant without  his  interference.  He  gave  up  this  idea 
when  an  angel  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream  and  paci- 
fied him.  As  it  is  expressly  stated  in  the  first  chapter 
of  Matthew  (vv.  24,  25),  there  was  no  sexual  intercourse 
between  Joseph  and  Mary  until  after  Jesus  was  born. 

The  statement  of  the  apocryphal  gospels,  that  the 
Roman  officer,  Pandera,  was  the  true  father  of  Christ, 
seems  all  the  more  credible  when  we  make  a  careful 
anthropological  study  of  the  personality  of  Christ.  He 
is  generally  regarded  as  purely  Jewish.  Yet  the  char- 
acteristics which  distinguish  his  high  and  noble  person- 
ality, and  which  give  a  distinct  impress  to  his  religion, 
are  certainly  not  Semitical ;  they  are  rather  features  of 
the  higher  Arian  race,  and  especially  of  its  noblest 
branch,  the  Hellenes.  Now,  the  name  of  Christ's  real 

328 


SCIENCE    AND   CHRISTIANITY 

father,  "  Pander  a,"  points  unequivocally  to  a  Greek 
origin ;  in  one  manuscript,  in  fact,  it  is  written  *  Pan- 
dora." Pandora  was,  according  to  the  Greek  mythol- 
ogy, the  first  woman,  born  of  the  earth  by  Vulcan  and 
adorned  with  every  charm  by  the  gods,  who  was  es- 
poused by  Epimetheus,  and  sent  by  Zeus  to  men  with 
the  dread  "  Pandora  -  box, "  containing  every  evil,  in 
punishment  for  the  stealing  of  divine  fire  from  heaven 
by  Prometheus. 

And  it  is  interesting  to  see  the  different  reception  that 
the  love-story  of  Miriam  has  met  with  at  the  hands  of 
the  four  great  Christian  nations  of  civilized  Europe. 
The  stern  morality  of  the  Teutonic  races  entirely  repu- 
diates it ;  the  righteous  German  and  the  prudish  Briton 
prefer  to  believe  blindly  in  the  impossible  thesis  of  a 
conception  *  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  It  is  well  known 
that  this  strenuous  and  carefully  paraded  prudery  of 
the  higher  classes  (especially  in  England)  is  by  no 
means  reflected  in  the  true  condition  of  sexual  morality 
in  high  quarters.  The  revelations  which  the  Pall 
Mall  Gazette,  for  instance,  made  on  the  subject  twelve 
years  ago  vividly  recalled  the  condition  of  Babylon. 

The  Romantic  races,  which  ridicule  this  prudery  and 
take  sexual  relations  less  seriously,  find  Mary's  Ro- 
mance attractive  enough ;  the  special  cult  which  "  Our 
Lady  "  enjoys  in  France  and  Italy  is  often  associated 
with  this  love-story  with  curious  naivete".  Thus,  for 
example,  Paul  de  Regla  (Dr.  Desjardin),  author  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  considered  from  a  Scientific,  Historical,  and 
Social  Standpoint  (1894),  finds  precisely  in  the  illegiti- 
mate birth  of  Christ  a  special  *  title  to  the  halo  that  ir- 
radiates his  noble  form." 

It  seemed  to  me  necessary  to  enter  fully  into  this  im- 
portant question  of  the  origin  of  Christ  in  the  sense  of 

329 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

impartial  historical  science,  because  the  Church  mili- 
tant itself  lays  great  emphasis  on  it,  and  because  it  re- 
gards the  miraculous  structure  which  has  been  founded 
on  it  as  one  of  its  strongest  weapons  against  modern 
thought.  The  highest  ethical  value  of  pure  primitive 
Christianity  and  the  ennobling  influence  of  this  "re- 
ligion of  love"  on  the  history  of  civilization  are  quite 
independent  of  those  mythical  dogmas.  The  so-called 
"revelations"  on  which  these  myths  are  based  are  in- 
compatible with  the  firmest  results  of  modern  science. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
OUR  MONISTIC  RELIGION 

Monism  as  a  Connecting  Link  between  Religion  and  Science — • 
The  Cultur-Kampf—The  Relations  of  Church  and  State — 
Principles  of  the  Monistic  Religion — Its  Three-fold  Ideal :  the 
Good,  the  True,  and  the  Beautiful — Contradiction  between 
Scientific  and  Christian  Truth — Harmony  of  the  Monistic 
and  the  Christian  Idea  of  Virtue — Opposition  between  Monistic 
and  Christian  Views  of  Art — Modern  Expansion  and  Enrich- 
ment of  Our  Idea  of  the  World — Landscape-Painting  and  the 
Modern  Enjoyment  of  Nature — The  Beauties  of  Nature — This 
World  and  Beyond — Monistic  Churches 

l\/\  ANY  distinguished  scientists  and  philosophers  of 
the  day,  who  share  our  monistic  views,  consider 
that  religion  is  generally  played  out.  Their  mean- 
ing is  that  the  clear  insight  into  the  evolution  of  the 
world  which  the  great  scientific  progress  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  has  afforded  us  will  satisfy,  not  only, 
the  causal  feeling  of  our  reason,  but  even  our  highest 
emotional  cravings.  This  view  is  correct  in  the  sense 
that  the  two  ideas,  religion  and  science,  would  indeed 
blend  into  one  if  we  had  a  perfectly  clear  and  consec-  , 
utive  system  of  monism.  However,  there  are  but  a 
few  resolute  thinkers  who  attain  to  this  most  pure  and 
lofty  conception  of  Spinoza  and  Goethe.  Most  of  the 
educated  people  of  our  time  (as  distinct  from  the  un- 
cultured masses)  remain  in  the  conviction  that  religion 

33 i 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

is  a  separate  branch  of  our  mental  life,  independent  of 
science,  and  not  less  valuable  and  indispensable. 

If  we  adopt  this  view,  we  can  find  a  means  of  reconcil- 
ing the  two  great  and  apparently  quite  distinct  branch- 
es in  the  idea  I  put  forward  in  "Monism,  as  a  Con- 
necting-Link  between  Religion  and  Science,"  in  1892. 
In  the  preface  to  this  Confession  of  Faith  of  a  Man  of 
Science  I  expressed  myself  in  the  following  words  with 
regard  to  its  double  object :  "  In  the  first  place,  I  must 
give  expression  to  the  rational  system  which  is  logi- 
cally forced  upon  us  by  the  recent  progress  of  science ; 
it  dwells  in  the  intimate  thoughts  of  nearly  every  im- 
partial and  thoughtful  scientist,  though  few  have  the 
courage  or  the  disposition  to  avow  it.  In  the  second 
place,  I  would  make  of  it  a  connecting-link  between  re- 
ligion and  science,  and  thus  do  away  with  the  antith- 
esis which  has  been  needlessly  maintained  between 
these  two  branches  of  the  highest  activity  of  the  hu- 
man mind.  The  ethical  craving  of  our  emotion  is  sat- 
isfied by  monism  no  less  than  the  logical  demand  for 
causality  on  the  part  of  reason." 

The  remarkable  interest  which  the  discourse  en- 
kindled is  a  proof  that  in  this  monistic  profession  of 
faith  I  expressed  the  feeling  not  only  of  many  scientists, 
but  of  a  large  number  of  cultured  men  and  women  of 
very  different  circles.  Not  only  was  I  rewarded  by 
hundreds  of  sympathetic  letters,  but  by  a  wide  circu- 
lation of  the  printed  address,  of  which  six  editions 
were  required  within  six  months.  I  had  the  more  rea- 
son to  be  content  with  this  unexpected  success,  as  this 
"  confession  of  faith  "  was  originally  merely  an  occa- 
sional speech  which  I  delivered  unprepared  on  October 
9,  1892,  at  Altenburg,  during  the  jubilee  of  the  Scien- 
tific Society  of  East  Germany.  Naturally  there  was 

332 


OUR    MONISTIC    RELIGION 

the  usual  demonstration  on  the  other  side ;  I  was  fierce- 
ly attacked,  not  only  by  the  ultramontane  press,  the 
sworn  defenders  of  superstition,  but  also  by  the  "  lib- 
eral "  controversialists  of  evangelical  Christianity, 
who  profess  to  defend  both  scientific  truth  and  purified 
faith.  In  the  seven  years  that  have  ensued  since  that 
time  the  great  struggle  between  modern  science  and 
orthodox  Christianity  has  become  more  threatening; 
it  has  grown  more  dangerous  for  science  in  propor- 
tion as  Christianity  has  found  support  in  an  increasing 
mental  and  political  reaction.  In  some  countries  the 
Church  has  made  such  progress  that  the  freedom  of 
thought  and  conscience,  which  is  guaranteed  by  the 
laws,  is  in  practice  gravely  menaced  (for  instance, 
in  Bavaria).  The  great  historic  struggle  which  Dra- 
per has  so  admirably  depicted  in  his  Conflict  between 
Religion  and  Science  is  to-day  more  acute  and  signifi- 
cant than  ever.  For  the  last  twenty-seven  years  it  has 
been  rightly  called  the  "  cultur-kamp]  " 

The  famous  encyclica  and  syllabus  which  the  mili- 
tant pope,  Pius  IX.,  sent  out  into  the  entire  world  in 
1864  were  a  declaration  of  war  on  the  whole  of  modern 
science;  they  demanded  the  blind  submission  of  rea- 
son to  the  dogmas  of  the  infallible  pope.  The  enor- 
mity of  this  crude  assault  on  the  highest  treasures  of 
civilization  even  roused  many  indolent  minds  from 
the  slumber  of  belief.  Together  with  the  subsequent 
promulgation  of  the  papal  infallibility  (1870),  the  en- 
cyclica provoked  a  deep  wave  of  irritation  and  an  en- 
ergetic repulse  which  held  out  high  hopes.  In  the 
new  German  empire,  which  had  attained  its  indis- 
pensable national  unity  by  the  heavy  sacrifices  of  the 
wars  of  1866  and  1871,  the  insolent  attacks  of  the  pope 
were  felt  to  be  particularly  offensive.  On  the  one  hand 

333 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

Germany  is  the  cradle  of  the  Reformation  and  the  mod- 
ern emancipation  of  reason ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  un- 
fortunately has  in  its  18,000,000  Catholics  a  vast  host 
of  militant  believers,  who  are  unsurpassed  by  any  other 
civilized  people  in  blind  obedience  to  their  chief  shep- 
herd. 

The  dangers  of  such  a  situation  were  clearly  recog- 
nized by  the  great  statesman  who  had  solved  the  po- 
litical "  world-riddle  "  of  the  dismemberment  of  Ger- 
many, and  had  led  us  by  a  marvellous  statecraft  to 
the  long-desired  goal  of  national  unity  and  power. 
Prince  Bismarck  began  the  famous  struggle  with  the 
Vatican,  which  is  known  as  the  cultur-kampf,  in  1872, 
and  it  was  conducted  with  equal  ability  and  energy  by 
the  distinguished  Minister  of  Worship,  Falk,  author 
of  the  May  laws  of  1873.  Unfortunately,  Bismarck 
had  to  desist  six  years  afterwards.  Although  the  great 
statesman  was  a  remarkable  judge  of  men  and  a  real- 
istic politician  of  immense  tact,  he  had  underestimated 
the  force  of  three  powerful  obstacles  —  first,  the  un- 
surpassed cunning  and  unscrupulous  treachery  of  the 
Roman  curia  ;  secondly,  the  correlative  ingratitude 
and  credulity  of  the  uneducated  Catholic  masses,  on 
which  the  papacy  built;  and,  thirdly,  the  power  of 
apathy,  the  continuance  of  the  irrational,  simply  be- 
cause it  is  in  possession.  Hence,  in  1878,  when  the 
abler  Leo  XIII.  had  ascended  the  pontifical  throne, 
the  fatal  "  To  Canossa  "  was  heard  once  more.  From 
that  time  the  newly  established  power  of  Rome  grew 
in  strength ;  partly  through  the  unscrupulous  intrigues 
and  serpentine  bends  of  its  slippery  Jesuitical  politics, 
partly  through  the  false  Church-politics  of  the  German 
government  and  the  marvellous  political  incompetence 
of  the  German  people.  We  have,  therefore,  at  the  close 

334 


OUR    MONISTIC   RELIGION 

of  the  nineteenth  century  to  endure  the  pitiful  spectacle 
of  the  Catholic  "Centre"  being  the  most  important  sec- 
tion of  the  Reichstag,  and  the  fate  of  our  humiliated 
country  depending  on  a  papal  party,  which  does  not 
constitute  numerically  a  third  part  of  the  nation. 

When  the  cultur-kampf  began  in  1872,  it  was  justly 
acclaimed  by  all  independent  thinkers  as  a  political 
renewal  of  the  Reformation,  a  vigorous  attempt  to  free 
modern  civilization  from  the  yoke  of  papal  despotism. 
The  whole  of  the  Liberal  press  hailed  Bismarck  as  a 
"  political  Luther  " — as  the  great  hero,  not  only  of  the 
national  unity,  but  also  of  the  rational  emancipation 
of  Germany.  Ten  years  afterwards,  when  the  papacy 
had  proved  victorious,  the  same  "  Liberal  press  "  changed 
its  colors,  and  denounced  the  cultur-kampf  as  a  great 
mistake;  and  it  does  the  same  thing  to-day.  The 
facts  show  how  short  is  the  memory  of  our  journalists, 
how  defective  their  knowledge  of  history,  and  how  poor 
their  philosophic  education.  The  so-called  "  Peace  be- 
tween Church  and  State  "  is  never  more  than  a  suspen- 
sion of  hostilities.  The  modern  papacy,  true  to  the  des- 
potic principles  it  has  followed  for  the  last  sixteen  hun- 
dred years,  is  determined  to  wield  sole  dominion  over  the 
credulous  souls  of  men;  it  must  demand  the  absolute 
submission  of  the  cultured  State,  which,  as  such,  de- 
fends the  rights  of  reason  and  science.  True  and  en- 
during peace  there  cannot  be  until  one  of  the  comba- 
tants lies  powerless  on  the  ground.  Either  the  Church 
wins,  and  then  farewell  to  all  "  free  science  and  free 
teaching  " — then  are  our  universities  no  better  than 
jails,  and  our  colleges  become  cloistral  schools;  or 
else  the  modern  rational  State  proves  victorious — then, 
in  the  twentieth  century,  human  culture,  freedom,  and 
prosperity  will  continue  their  progressive  development 

335 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

until  they  far  surpass  even  the  height  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

In  order  to  compass  these  high  aims,  it  is  of  the  first 
importance  that  modern  science  not  only  shatter  the 
false  structures  of  superstition  and  sweep  their  ruins 
from  the  path,  but  that  it  also  erect  a  new  abode  for 
human  emotion  on  the  ground  it  has  cleared — a  "  palace 
of  reason,"  in  which,  under  the  influence  of  our  new 
monistic  views,  we  do  reverence  to  the  real  trinity  of 
the  nineteenth  century — the  trinity  of  "  the  true,  the 
good,  and  the  beautiful."  In  order  to  give  a  tangible 
shape  to  the  cult  of  this  divine  ideal,  we  must  first  of 
all  compare  our  position  with  the  dominant  forms  of 
Christianity,  and  realize  the  changes  that  are  involved 
in  the  substitution  of  the  one  for  the  other.  For,  in 
spite  of  its  errors  and  defects,  the  Christian  religion 
(in  its  primitive  and  purer  form)  has  so  high  an  ethi- 
cal value,  and  has  entered  so  deeply  into  the  most  im- 
portant social  and  political  movements  of  civilized  his- 
tory for  the  last  fifteen  hundred  years,  that  we  must 
appeal  as  much  as  possible  to  its  existing  institutions 
in  the  establishment  of  our  monistic  religion.  We  do 
not  seek  a  mighty  revolution,  but  a  rational  reforma- 
tion, of  our  religious  life.  And  just  as,  two  thousand 
years  ago,  the  classic  poetry  of  the  ancient  Greeks 
incarnated  their  ideals  of  virtue  in  divine  shapes,  so 
may  we,  too,  lend  the  character  of  noble  goddesses  to 
our  three  rational  ideals.  We  must  inquire  into  the 
features  of  the  three  goddesses  of  the  monist — truth, 
beauty,  and  virtue ;  and  we  must  study  their  relation 
to  the  three  corresponding  ideals  of  Christianity  which 
they  are  to  replace. 

I.  The  preceding  inquiries  (especially  those  of  the 
first  and  third  sections)  have  convinced  us  that  truth 

336 


OUR    MONISTIC    RELIGION 

unadulterated  is  only  to  be  found  in  the  temple  of  the 
study  of  nature,  and  that  the  only  available  paths  to 
it  are  critical  observation  and  reflection — the  empirical 
investigation  of  facts  and  the  rational  study  of  their 
efficient  causes.  In  this  way  we  arrive,  by  means  of 
pure  reason,  at  true  science,  the  highest  treasure  of 
civilized  man.  We  must,  in  accordance  with  the  argu- 
ments of  our  sixteenth  chapter,  reject  what  is  called 
"  revelation,"  the  poetry  of  faith,  that  affirms  the  dis- 
covery of  truth  in  a  supernatural  fashion,  without  the 
assistance  of  reason.  And  since  the  entire  structure 
of  the  Judaeo-Christian  religion,  like  that  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan and  the  Buddhistic,  rests  on  these  so-called 
revelations,  and  these  mystic  fruits  of  the  imagination 
directly  contradict  the  clear  results  of  empirical  re- 
search, it  is  obvious  that  we  shall  only  attain  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth  by  the  rational  activity  of  gen- 
uine science,  not  by  the  poetic  imagining  of  a  mystic 
faith.  In  this  respect  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  Chris- 
tian system  must  give  way  to  the  monistic.  The  god- 
dess of  truth  dwells  in  the  temple  of  nature,  in  the  green 
woods,  on  the  blue  sea,  and  on  the  snowy  summits  of 
the  hills — not  in  the  gloom  of  the  cloister,  nor  in  the  nar- 
now  prisons  of  our  jail-like  schools,  nor  in  the  clouds 
of  incense  of  the  Christian  churches.  The  paths  which 
lead  to  the  noble  divinity  of  truth  and  knowledge  are 
the  loving  study  of  nature  and  its  laws,  the  observa- 
tion of  the  infinitely  great  star-world  with  the  aid  of 
the  telescope,  and  the  infinitely  tiny  cell-world  with  the 
aid  of  the  microscope — not  senseless  ceremonies  and 
unthinking  prayers,  not  alms  and  Peter's  Pence.  The 
rich  gifts  which  the  goddess  of  truth  bestows  on  us  are 
the  noble  fruits  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  and  the  ines- 
timable treasure  of  a  clear,  unified  view  of  the  world — 

337 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

not  belief  in  supernatural  miracles  and  the  illusion  of 
an  eternal  life. 

II.  It  is  otherwise  with  the  divine  ideal  of  eternal 
goodness.     In  our  search  for  the  truth  we  have  entirely 
to  exclude  the  "  revelation  "  of  the  churches,  and  de- 
vote ourselves  solely  to  the  study  of  nature ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  idea  of  the  good,  which  we  call  virtue, 
in  our  monistic  religion  coincides  for  the  most  part 
with  the  Christian  idea  of  virtue.     We  are  speaking, 
naturally,  of  the  primitive  and  pure  Christianity  of  the 
first  three  centuries,  as  far  as  we  learn  its  moral  teach- 
ing from  the  gospels  and  the  epistles  of  Paul;  it  does 
not  apply  to  the  Vatican  caricature  of  that  pure  doc- 
trine which  has  dominated  European  civilization,  to  its 
infinite  prejudice,  for  twelve  hundred  years.     The  best 
part  of  Christian  morality,  to  which  we  firmly  adhere, 
is  represented  by  the  humanist  precepts  of  charity  and 
toleration,  compassion  and  assistance.     However,  these 
noble  commands,  which  are  set  down  as  "  Christian  " 
morality  (in  its  best  sense),  are  by  no  means  original 
discoveries  of  Christianity ;  they  are  derived  from  earlier 
religions.     The  Golden  Rule,  which  sums  up  these  pre- 
cepts in  one  sentence,  is  centuries  older  than  Chris- 
tianity.    In  the  conduct  of  life  this  law  of  natural  mo- 
rality has  been  followed  just  as  frequently  by  non-Chris- 
tians and  atheists  as  it  has  been  neglected  by  pious 
believers.     Moreover,  Christian  ethics  was  marred  by 
the  great  defect  of  a  narrow  insistence  on  altruism  and 
a  denunciation  of  egoism.     Our  monistic  ethics  lays 
equal  emphasis  on  the  two,  and  finds  perfect  virtue  in 
the  just  balance  of  love  of  self  and  love  of  one's  neigh- 
bor (cf.  chap.  xix.). 

III.  But  monism  enters  into  its  strongest  opposi- 
tion to  Christianity  on  the  question  of  beauty.     Primi- 

338 


OUR    MONISTIC    RELIGION 

live  Christianity  preached  the  worthlessness  of  earthly 
life,  regarding  it  merely  as  a  preparation  for  an  eter- 
nal life  beyond.  Hence  it  immediately  followed  that 
all  we  find  in  the  life  of  man  here  below,  all  that  is  beau- 
tiful in  art  and  science,  in  public  and  in  private  life, 
is  of  no  real  value.  The  true  Christian  must  avert 
his  eyes  from  them;  he  must  think  only  of  a  worthy 
preparation  for  the  life  beyond.  Contempt  of  nature, 
aversion  from  all  its  inexhaustible  charms,  rejection 
of  every  kind  of  fine  art,  are  Christian  duties;  and 
they  are  carried  out  to  perfection  when  a  man  sepa- 
rates himself  from  his  fellows,  chastises  his  body,  and 
spends  all  his  time  in  prayer  in  the  cloister  or  the  her- 
mit's cell. 

History  teaches  us  that  this  ascetical  morality  that 
would  scorn  the  whole  of  nature  had,  as  a  natural  con- 
sequence, the  very  opposite  effect  to  that  it  intended. 
Monasteries,  the  homes  of  chastity  and  discipline, 
soon  became  dens  of  the  wildest  orgies;  the  sexual 
commerce  of  monks  and  nuns  has  inspired  shoals  of 
novels,  as  it  is  so  faithfully  depicted  in  the  literature 
of  the  Renaissance.  The  cult  of  the  "  beautiful,"  which 
was  then  practised,  was  in  flagrant  contradiction  with 
the  vaunted  "abandonment  of  the  world";  and  the 
same  must  be  said  of  the  pomp  and  luxury  which  soon 
developed  in  the  immoral  private  lives  of  the  higher 
ecclesiastics  and  in  the  artistic  decoration  of  Christian 
churches  and  monasteries. 

It  may  be  objected  that  our  view  is  refuted  by  the 
splendor  of  Christian  art,  which,  especially  in  the  best 
days  of  the  Middle  Ages,  created  works  of  undying 
beauty.  The  graceful  Gothic  cathedrals  and  Byzan- 
tine basilicas,  the  hundreds  of  magnificent  chapels, 
the  thousands  of  marble  statues  of  saints  and  martyrs, 

339 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

the  millions  of  fine  pictures  of  saints,  of  profoundly 
conceived  representations  of  Christ  and  the  madonna 
— all  are  proofs  of  the  development  of  a  noble  art  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  which  is  unique  of  its  kind.  All  these 
splendid  monuments  of  mediaeval  art  are  untouched 
in  their  high  aesthetic  value,  whatever  we  say  of  their 
mixture  of  truth  and  fancy.  Yes;  but  what  has  all 
that  to  do  with  the  pure  teaching  of  Christianity — with 
that  religion  of  sacrifice  that  turned  scornfully  away 
from  all  earthly  parade  and  glamour,  from  all  material 
beauty  and  art ;  that  made  light  of  the  life  of  the  fam- 
ily and  the  love  of  woman ;  that  urged  an  exclusive  con- 
cern as  to  the  immaterial  goods  of  eternal  life?  The 
idea  of  a  Christian  art  is  a  contradiction  in  terms — a 
contradictio  in  adjecto.  The  wealthy  princes  of  the 
Church  who  fostered  it  were  candidly  aiming  at  very 
different  ideals,  and  they  completely  attained  them. 
In  directing  the  whole  interest  and  activity  of  the  hu- 
man mind  in  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  Christian  Church 
and  its  distinctive  art  they  were  diverting  it  from  nature 
and  from  the  knowledge  of  the  treasures  that  were  hid- 
den in  it,  and  would  have  conducted  to  independent 
science.  Moreover,  the  daily  sight  of  the  huge  images 
of  the  saints  and  of  the  scenes  of  "  sacred  history  "  con- 
tinually reminded  the  faithful  of  the  vast  collection 
of  myths  that  the  Church  had  made.  The  legends 
themselves  were  taught  and  believed  to  be  true  nar- 
ratives, and  the  stories  of  miracles  to  be  records  of  act- 
ual events.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  in  this  respect 
Christian  art  has  exercised  an  immense  influence  on 
general  culture,  and  especially  in  the  strengthening 
of  Christian  belief — an  influence  which  still  endures 
throughout  the  entire  civilized  world. 

The  diametrical  opposite  of  this  dominant  Christian 
340 


OUR    MONISTIC    RELIGION 

art  is  the  new  artistic  tendency  which  has  been  devel- 
oped during  the  present  century  in  connection  with 
science.  The  remarkable  expansion  of  our  knowl- 
edge of  nature,  and  the  discovery  of  countless  beauti- 
ful forms  of  life,  which  it  includes,  have  awakened  quite 
a  new  aesthetic  sense  in  our  generation,  and  thus  given 
a  new  tone  to  painting  and  sculpture.  Numerous  sci- 
entific voyages  and  expeditions  for  the  exploration 
of  unknown  lands  and  seas,  partly  in  earlier  centuries, 
but  more  especially  in  the  nineteenth,  have  brought  to 
light  an  undreamed  abundance  of  new  organic  forms. 
The  number  of  new  species  of  animals  and  plants  soon 
became  enormous,  and  among  them  (especially  among 
the  lower  groups  that  had  been  neglected  before)  there 
were  thousands  of  forms  of  great  beauty  and  interest, 
affording  an  entirely  new  inspiration  for  painting,  sculp- 
ture, architecture,  and  technical  art.  In  this  respect  a 
new  world  was  revealed  by  the  great  advance  of  mi- 
croscopic research  in  the  second  half  of  the  century,  and 
especially  by  the  discovery  of  the  marvellous  inhabi- 
tants of  the  deep  sea,  which  were  first  brought  to  light 
by  the  famous  expedition  of  the  Challenger  (1872-76). 
Thousands  of  graceful  radiolaria  and  thalamophora, 
of  pretty  medusae  and  corals,  of  extraordinary  mol- 
luscs, and  crabs,  suddenly  introduced  us  to  a  wealth 
of  hidden  organisms  beyond  all  anticipation,  the  pe- 
culiar beauty  and  diversity  of  which  far  transcend  all 
the  creations  of  the  human  imagination.  In  the  fifty 
large  volumes  of  the  account  of  the  Challenger  expe- 
dition a  vast  number  of  these  beautiful  forms  are 
delineated  on  three  thousand  plates;  and  there  are 
millions  of  other  lovely  organisms  described  in  other 
great  works  that  are  included  in  the  fast-growing  liter- 
ature of  zoology  and  botany  of  the  last  ten  years.  I 

341 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

began  on  a  small  scale  to  select  a  number  of  these 
beautiful  forms  for  more  popular  description  in  my 
Art  Forms  in  Nature  (1899). 

However,  there  is  now  no  need  for  long  voyages  and 
costly  works  to  appreciate  the  beauties  of  this  world. 
A  man  needs  only  to  keep  his  eyes  open  and  his  mind 
disciplined.  Surrounding  nature  offers  us  everywhere 
a  marvellous  wealth  of  lovely  and  interesting  objects 
of  all  kinds.  In  every  bit  of  moss  and  blade  of  grass, 
in  every  beetle  and  butterfly,  we  find,  when  we  exam- 
ine it  carefully,  beauties  which  are  usually  overlooked. 
Above  all,  when  we  examine  them  with  a  powerful  glass 
or,  better  still,  with  a  good  microscope,  we  find  every- 
where in  nature  a  new  world  of  inexhaustible  charms. 

But  the  nineteenth  century  has  not  only  opened  our 
eyes  to  the  aesthetic  enjoyment  of  the  microscopic  world ; 
it  has  shown  us  the  beauty  of  the  greater  objects  in 
nature.  Even  at  its  commencement  it  was  the  fashion 
to  regard  the  mountains  as  magnificent  but  forbidding, 
and  the  sea  as  sublime  but  dreaded.  At  its  close  the 
majority  of  educated  people — especially  they  who  dwell 
in  the  great  cities — are  delighted  to  enjoy  the  glories 
of  the  Alps  and  the  crystal  splendor  of  the  glacier  world 
for  a  fortnight  every  year,  or  to  drink  in  the  majesty  of 
the  ocean  and  the  lovely  scenery  of  its  coasts.  All  these 
sources  of  the  keenest  enjoyment  of  nature  have  only 
recently  been  revealed  to  us  in  all  their  splendor,  and 
the  remarkable  progress  we  have  made  in  facility  and 
rapidity  of  conveyance  has  given  even  the  less  wealthy 
an  opportunity  of  approaching  them.  All  this  progress 
in  the  aesthetic  enjoyment  of  nature — and,  proportion- 
ately, in  the  scientific  understanding  of  nature — implies 
an  equal  advance  in  higher  mental  development  and, 
consequently,  in  the  direction  of  our  monistic  religion. 

342 


OUR    MONISTIC    RELIGION 

The  opposite  character  of  our  naturalistic  century  to 
that  of  the  anthropistic  centuries  that  preceded  is  es- 
pecially noticeable  in  the  different  appreciation  and 
spread  of  illustrations  of  the  most  diverse  natural  ob- 
jects. In  our  own  days  a  lively  interest  in  artistic 
work  of  that  kind  has  been  developed,  which  did  not 
exist  in  earlier  ages ;  it  has  been  supported  by  the  re- 
markable progress  of  commerce  and  technical  art  which 
have  facilitated  a  wide  popularization  of  such  illustra- 
tions. Countless  illustrated  periodicals  convey  along 
with  their  general  information  a  sense  of  the  inexhaust- 
ible beauty  of  nature  in  all  its  departments.  In  par- 
ticular, landscape-painting  has  acquired  an  importance 
that  surpassed  all  imagination.  In  the  first  half  of  the 
century  one  of  our  greatest  and  most  erudite  scientists, 
Alexander  Humboldt,  had  pointed  out  that  the  devel- 
opment of  modern  landscape -painting  is  not  only  of 
great  importance  as  an  incentive  to  the  study  of  nature 
and  as  a  means  of  geographical  description,  but  that 
it  is  to  be  commended  in  other  respects  as  a  noble  edu- 
cative medium.  Since  that  time  the  taste  for  it  has 
considerably  increased.  It  should  be  the  aim  at  every 
school  to  teach  the  children  to  enjoy  scenery  at  an  early 
age,  and  to  give  them  the  valuable  art  of  imprinting 
on  the  memory  by  a  drawing  or  water-color  sketch. 

The  infinite  wealth  of  nature  in  what  is  beautiful 
and  sublime  offers  every  man  with  open  eyes  and  an 
aesthetic  sense  an  incalculable  sum  of  choicest  gifts. 
Still,  however  valuable  and  agreeable  is  the  immediate 
enjoyment  of  each  single  gift,  its  worth  is  doubled  by  a 
knowledge  of  its  meaning  and  its  connection  with  the 
rest  of  nature.  When  Humboldt  gave  us  the  "  outline 
of  a  physical  description  of  the  world  "  in  his  magnifi- 
cent Cosmos  forty  years  ago,  and  when  he  combined 

343 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

scientific  and  aesthetic  consideration  so  happily  in  his 
standard  Prospects  of  Nature,  he  justly  indicated  how 
closely  the  higher  enjoyment  of  nature  is  connected 
with  the  "  scientific  establishment  of  cosmic  laws/'  and 
that  the  conjunction  of  the  two  serves  to  raise  human 
nature  to  a  higher  stage  of  perfection.  The  astonish- 
ment with  which  we  gaze  upon  the  starry  heavens  and 
the  microscopic  life  in  a  drop  of  water,  the  awe  with 
which  we  trace  the  marvellous  working  of  energy  in 
the  motion  of  matter,  the  reverence  with  which  we 
grasp  the  universal  dominance  of  the  law  of  substance 
throughout  the  universe — all  these  are  part  of  our 
emotional  life,  falling  under  the  heading  of  "  natural 
religion." 

This  progress  of  modern  times  in  knowledge  of  the 
true  and  enjoyment  of  the  beautiful  expresses,  on  the 
one  hand,  a  valuable  element  of  our  monistic  religion, 
but  is,  on  the  other  hand,  in  fatal  opposition  to  Chris- 
tianity. For  the  human  mind  is  thus  made  to  live  on 
this  side  of  the  grave ;  Christianity  wrould  have  it  ever 
gaze  beyond.  Monism  teaches  that  we  are  perishable 
children  of  the  earth,  who  for  one  or  two,  or,  at  the 
most,  three  generations,  have  the  good  fortune  to  enjoy 
the  treasures  of  our  planet,  to  drink  of  the  inexhausti- 
ble fountain  of  its  beauty,  and  to  trace  out  the  marvel- 
lous play  of  its  forces.  Christianity  would  teach  us 
that  the  earth  is  "a  vale  of  tears/'  in  which  we  have 
but  a  brief  period  to  chasten  and  torment  ourselves  in 
order  to  merit  the  life  of  eternal  bliss  beyond.  Where 
this  "  beyond  "  is,  and  of  what  joys  the  glory  of  this 
eternal  life  is  compacted,  no  revelation  has  ever  told 
us.  As  long  as  "  heaven  "  was  thought  to  be  the  blue 
vault  that  hovers  over  the  disk  of  our  planet,  and  is  il- 
lumined by  the  twinkling  light  of  a  few  thousand  stars, 

344 


OUR    MONISTIC    RELIGION 

the  human  imagination  could  picture  to  itself  the  am- 
brosial banquets  of  the  Olympic  gods  above  or  the  laden 
tables  of  the  happy  dwellers  in  Valhalla.  But  now  all 
these  deities  and  the  immortal  souls  that  sat  at  their 
tables  are  "  houseless  and  homeless/'  as  David  Strauss 
has  so  ably  described ;  for  we  know  from  astrophysical 
science  that  the  immeasurable  depths  of  space  are  filled 
with  a  prosaic  ether,  and  that  millions  of  heavenly 
bodies,  ruled  by  eternal  laws  of  iron,  rush  hither  and 
thither  in  the  great  ocean,  in  their  eternal  rhythm  of 
life  and  death. 

The  places  of  devotion,  in  which  men  seek  the 
satisfaction  of  their  religious  emotions  and  worship 
the  objects  of  their  reverence,  are  regarded  as  sacred 
"  churches."  The  pagodas  of  Buddhistic  Asia,  the 
Greek  temples  of  classical  antiquity,  the  synagogues 
of  Palestine,  the  mosques  of  Egypt,  the  Catholic  cathe- 
drals of  the  south,  and  the  Protestant  cathedrals  of  the 
north,  of  Europe — all  these  "  houses  of  God  "  serve  to 
raise  man  above  the  misery  and  the  prose  of  daily  life, 
to  lift  him  into  the  sacred,  poetic  atmosphere  of  a  high- 
er, ideal  world.  They  attain  this  end  in  a  thousand 
different  ways,  according  to  their  various  forms  of  wor- 
ship and  their  age.  The  modern  man  who  "  has  sci- 
ence and  art  " — and,  therefore,  "  religion  " — needs  no 
special  church,  no  narrow,  enclosed  portion  of  space. 
For  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  free  nature, 
wherever  he  turns  his  gaze,  to  the  whole  universe  or 
to  any  single  part  of  it,  he  finds,  indeed,  the  grim  "  strug- 
gle for  life,"  but  by  its  side  are  ever  "  the  good,  the  true, 
and  the  beautiful " ;  his  church  is  commensurate  with 
the  whole  of  glorious  nature.  Still,  there  will  always 
be  men  of  special  temperament  who  will  desire  to  have 
decorated  temples  or  churches  as  places  of  devotion 

345 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

to  which  they  may  withdraw.  Just  as  the  Catholics 
had  to  relinquish  a  number  of  churches  to  the  Reforma- 
tion in  the  sixteenth  century,  so  a  still  larger  number 
will  pass  over  to  "  free  societies  "  of  monists  in  the  com- 
ing years. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
OUR   MONISTIC   ETHICS 

Monistic  and  Dualistic  Ethics — Contradiction  of  Pure  and  Prac. 
tical  Reason  in  Kant — His  Categorical  Imperative — The  Neo> 
Kantians — Herbert  Spencer — Egoism  and  Altruism — Equiv- 
alence of  the  Two  Instincts — The  Fundamental  Law  of  Ethics  : 
the  Golden  Rule — Its  Antiquity — Christian  Ethics — Contempt 
of  Self,  the  Body,  Nature,  Civilization,  the  Family,  Woman — 
Roman  Catholic  Ethics — Immoral  Results  of  Celibacy — Ne- 
cessity for  the  Abolition  of  the  Law  of  Celibacy,  Oral  Confes- 
sion, and  Indulgences — State  and  Church — Religion  a  Private 
Concern — Church  and  School — State  and  School — Need  of 
School  Reform 

T^HE  practical  conduct  of  life  makes  a  number  of 
definite  ethical  claims  on  a  man  which  can  only 
be  duly  and  naturally  satisfied  when  they  are  in  com- 
plete harmony  with  his  view  of  the  world.  In  accord- 
ance with  this  fundamental  principle  of  our  monistic 
philosophy,  our  whole  system  of  ethics  must  be  ration- 
ally connected  with  the  unified  conception  of  the  cos- 
mos which  we  have  formed  by  our  advanced  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  of  nature.  Just  as  the  infinite  uni- 
verse is  one  great  whole  in  the  light  of  our  monistic 
teaching,  so  the  spiritual  and  moral  life  of  man  is  a  part 
of  this  cosmos,  and  our  naturalistic  ordering  of  it  must 
also  be  monistic.  There  are  not  two  different,  separate 
worlds — the  one  physical  and  material,  and  the  other 
moral  and  immaterial. 

347 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

The  great  majority  of  philosophers  and  theologians 
still  hold  the  contrary  opinion.  They  affirm,  with 
Kant,  that  the  moral  world  is  quite  independent  of 
the  physical,  and  is  subject  to  very  different  laws ;  hence 
a  man's  conscience,  as  the  basis  of  his  moral  life,  must 
also  be  quite  independent  of  our  scientific  knowledge 
of  the  world,  and  must  be  based  rather  on  his  religious 
faith.  On  that  theory  the  study  of  the  moral  world 
belongs  to  practical  reason,  while  that  of  nature,  or  of 
the  physical  world,  is  referred  to  pure  or  theoretical 
reason.  This  unequivocal  and  conscious  dualism  of 
Kant's  philosophy  was  its  greatest  defect ;  it  has  caused, 
and  still  causes,  incalculable  mischief.  First  of  all 
the  "  critical  Kant  "  had  built  up  the  splendid  and  mar- 
vellous palace  of  pure  reason,  and  convincingly  proved 
that  the  three  great  central  dogmas  of  metaphysics — 
a  personal  God,  free  will,  and  the  immortal  soul — had 
no  place  whatever  in  it,  and  that  no  rational  proof  could 
be  found  of  their  reality.  Afterwards,  however,  the 
"dogmatic  Kant"  superimposed  on  this  true  crystal 
palace  of  pure  reason  the  glittering,  ideal  castle  in  the 
air  of  practical  reason,  in  which  three  imposing  church- 
naves  were  designed  for  the  accommodation  of  those 
three  great  mystic  divinities.  When  they  had  been 
put  out  at  the  front  door  by  rational  knowledge  they 
returned  by  the  back  door  under  the  guidance  of 
irrational  faith. 

The  cupola  of  his  great  cathedral  of  faith  was  crowned 
by  Kant  with  his  curious  idol,  the  famous  "  categorical 
imperative."  According  to  it,  the  demand  of  the  uni- 
versal moral  law  is  unconditional,  independent  of  any 
regard  to  actuality  or  potentiality.  It  runs :  "  Act  at 
all  times  in  such  wise  that  the  maxim  (or  the  subjective 
kw  of  thy  will)  may  hold  good  as  a  principle  of  a  uni- 

348 


OUR    MONISTIC    ETHICS 

versal  law. "  On  that  theory  all  normal  men  would  have 
the  same  sense  of  duty.  Modern  anthropology  has 
ruthlessly  dissipated  that  pretty  dream ;  it  has  shown 
that  conceptions  of  duty  differ  even  more  among  un- 
civilized than  among  civilized  nations.  All  the  actions 
and  customs  which  we  regard  as  sins  or  loathsome 
crimes  (theft,  fraud,  murder,  adultery,  etc.)  are  con- 
sidered by  other  nations  in  certain  circumstances  to 
be  virtues,  or  even  sacred  duties. 

Although  the  obvious  contradiction  of  the  two  forms 
of  reason  in  Kant's  teaching,  the  fundamental  antag- 
onism of  pure  and  practical  reason,  was  recognized 
and  attacked  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  century,  it 
is  still  pretty  widely  accepted.  The  modern  school 
of  neo-Kantians  urges  a  "  return  to  Kant "  so  press- 
ingly  precisely  on  account  of  this  agreeable  dualism; 
the  Church  militant  zealously  supports  it  because  it 
fits  in  admirably  with  its  own  mystic  faith.  But  it 
met  with  an  effective  reverse  at  the  hands  of  modern 
science  in  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
which  entirely  demolished  the  theses  of  the  system  of 
practical  reason.  Monistic  cosmology  proved,  on  the 
basis  of  the  law  of  substance,  that  there  is  no  person- 
al God;  comparative  and  genetic  psychology  showed 
that  there  cannot  be  an  immortal  soul ;  and  monistic 
physiology  proved  the  futility  of  the  assumption  of 
"  free  will."  Finally,  the  science  of  evolution  made 
it  clear  that  the  same  eternal  iron  laws  that  rule  in  the 
inorganic  world  are  valid  too  in  the  organic  and  moral 
world. 

But  modern  science  gives  not  only  a  negative  sup- 
port to  practical  philosophy  and  ethics  in  demolishing 
the  Kantian  dualism,  but  it  renders  the  positive  service 
of  substituting  for  it  the  new  structure  of  ethical  mon- 
**  349 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

ism.  It  shows  that  the  feeling  of  duty  does  not  rest 
on  an  illusory  "  categorical  imperative,"  but  on  the 
solid  ground  of  social  instinct,  as  we  find  in  the  case 
of  all  social  animals.  It  regards  as  the  highest  aim  of 
all  morality  the  re-establishment  of  a  sound  harmony 
between  egoism  and  altruism,  between  self-love  and 
the  love  of  one's  neighbor.  It  is  to  the  great  English 
philosopher,  Herbert  Spencer,  that  we  owe  the  found- 
ing of  this  monistic  ethics  on  a  basis  of  evolution. 

Man  belongs  to  the  social  vertebrates,  and  has,  there- 
fore, like  all  social  animals,  two  sets  of  duties  —  first 
to  himself,  and  secondly  to  the  society  to  which  he  be- 
longs. The  former  are  the  behests  of  self-love  or  ego- 
ism, the  latter  of  love  for  one's  fellows  or  altruism.  The 
two  sets  of  precepts  are  equally  just,  equally  natural, 
and  equally  indispensable.  If  a  man  desire  to  have 
the  advantage  of  living  in  an  organized  community, 
he  has  to  consult  not  only  his  own  fortune,  but  also 
that  of  the  society,  and  of  the  "  neighbors  "  who  form 
the  society.  He  must  realize  that  its  prosperity  is  his 
own  prosperity,  and  that  it  cannot  suffer  without  his 
own  injury.  This  fundamental  law  of  society  is  so 
simple  and  so  inevitable  that  one  cannot  understand 
how  it  can  be  contradicted  in  theory  or  in  practice ;  yet 
that  is  done  to-day,  and  has  been  done  for  thousands 
of  years. 

The  equal  appreciation  of  these  two  natural  impulses, 
or  the  moral  equivalence  of  self-love  and  love  of  others, 
is  the  chief  and  the  fundamental  principle  of  our  mo- 
rality. Hence  the  highest  aim  of  all  ethics  is  very 
simple — it  is  the  re-establishment  of  "  the  natural  equal- 
ity of  egoism  and  altruism,  of  the  love  of  one's  self  and 
the  love  of  one's  neighbor."  The  Golden  Rule  says: 
"  Do  unto  others  as  you  would  that  they  should  do  unto 

35° 


OUR    MONISTIC    ETHICS 

you."  From  this  highest  precept  of  Christianity  it 
follows  of  itself  that  we  have  just  as  sacred  duties  tow- 
ards ourselves  as  we  have  towards  our  fellows.  I  have 
explained  my  conception  of  this  principle  in  my  Mon- 
ism, and  laid  down  three  important  theses,  (i)  Both 
these  concurrent  impulses  are  natural  laws,  of  equal 
importance  and  necessity  for  the  preservation  of  the 
family  and  the  society;  egoism  secures  the  self-pres- 
ervation of  the  individual,  altruism  that  of  the  species 
which  is  made  up  of  the  chain  of  perishable  individ- 
uals. (2)  The  social  duties  which  are  imposed  by  the 
social  structure  of  the  associated  individuals,  and  by 
means  of  wrhich  it  secures  its  preservation,  are  merely 
higher  evolutionary  stages  of  the  social  instincts,  which 
we  find  in  all  higher  social  animals  (as  "  habits  which 
have  become  hereditary  ").  (3)  In  the  case  of  civilized 
man  all  ethics,  theoretical  or  practical,  being  "a  sci- 
ence of  rules/'  is  connected  with  his  view  of  the  world 
at  large,  and  consequently  with  his  religion. 

From  the  recognition  of  the  fundamental  principle 
of  our  morality  we  may  immediately  deduce  its  high- 
est precept,  that  noble  command,  which  is  often  called 
the  Golden  Rule  of  morals,  or,  briefly,  the  Golden  Rule. 
Christ  repeatedly  expressed  it  in  the  simple  phrase: 
"Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  Mark 
adds  that "  there  is  no  greater  commandment  than  this," 
and  Matthew  says:  "In  these  two  commandments 
is  the  whole  law  and  the  prophets."  In  this  greatest 
and  highest  commandment  our  monistic  ethics  is  com- 
pletely at  one  with  Christianity.  We  must,  however, 
recall  the  historical  fact  that  the  formulation  of  this 
supreme  command  is  not  an  original  merit  of  Christ, 
as  the  majority  of  Christian  theologians  affirm  and 
their  uncritical  supporters  blindly  accept.  The  Gold- 


THE   RIDDLE    OF  THE    UNIVERSE 

en  Rule  is  five  hundred  years  older  than  Christ;  it 
was  laid  down  as  the  highest  moral  principle  by  many 
Greek  and  Oriental  sages.  Pittacus,  of  Mylene,  one 
of  the  seven  wise  men  of  Greece,  said  six  hundred  and 
twenty  years  before  Christ :  "  Do  not  that  to  thy  neigh- 
bor that  thou  wouldst  not  suffer  from  him."  Confu- 
cius, the  great  Chinese  philosopher  and  religious  found- 
er (who  rejected  the  idea  of  a  personal  God  and  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul),  said  five  hundred  years  B.C. : 
"  Do  to  every  man  as  thou  wouldst  have  him  do  to  thee  ; 
and  do  not  to  another  what  thou  wouldst  not  have  him 
do  to  thee.  This  precept  only  dost  thou  need;  it  is 
the  foundation  of  all  other  commandments."  Aristotle 
taught  about  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  B.C. : 
u  We  must  act  towards  others  as  we  wish  others  to  act 
towards  us."  In  the  same  sense,  and  partly  in  the 
same  words,  the  Golden  Rule  was  given  by  Thales, 
Isocrates,  Aristippus,  Sextus,  the  Pythagorean,  and 
other  philosophers  of  classic  antiquity — several  cen- 
turies before  Christ.  From  this  collection  it  is  clear 
that  the  Golden  Rule  had  a  polyphyletic  origin — that 
is,  it  was  formulated  by  a  number  of  philosophers  at 
different  times  and  in  different  places,  quite  indepen- 
dently of  each  other.  Otherwise  it  must  be  assumed 
that  Jesus  derived  it  from  some  other  Oriental  source, 
from  ancient  Semitic,  Indian,  Chinese,  or  especially 
Buddhistic  traditions,  as  has  been  proved  in  the  case 
of  most  of  the  other  Christian  doctrines. 

As  the  great  ethical  principle  is  thus  twenty-five  hun- 
dred years  old,  and  as  Christianity  itself  has  put  it  at 
the  head  of  its  moral  teaching  as  the  highest  and  all- 
embracing  commandment,  it  follows  that  our  monistic 
ethics  is  in  complete  harmony  on  this  important  point, 
not  only  with  the  ethics  of  the  ancient  heathens,  but  also 

352 


OUR    MONISTIC    ETHICS 

with  that  of  Christianity.  Unfortunately  this  harmony 
is  disturbed  by  the  fact  that  the  gospels  and  the  Paul 
me  epistles  contain  many  other  points  of  moral  teach- 
ing, which  contradict  our  first  and  supreme  command- 
ment. Christian  theologians  have  fruitlessly  striven 
to  explain  away  these  striking  and  painful  contradic- 
tions by  their  ingenious  interpretations.  We  need  not 
enter  into  that  question  now,  but  we  must  briefly  con- 
sider those  unfortunate  aspects  of  Christian  ethics 
which  are  incompatible  with  the  better  thought  of  the 
modern  age,  and  which  are  distinctly  injurious  in  their 
practical  consequences.  Of  that  character  is  the  con- 
tempt which  Christianity  has  shown  for  self,  for  the 
body,  for  nature,  for  civilization,  for  the  family,  and 
for  woman. 

I.  The  supreme  mistake  of  Christian  ethics,  and 
one  which  runs  directly  counter  to  the  Golden  Rule, 
is  its  exaggeration  of  love  of  one's  neighbor  at  the  ex- 
pense of  self-love.  Christianity  attacks  and  despises 
egoism  on  principle.  Yet  that  natural  impulse  is  ab- 
solutely indispensable  in  view  of  self-preservation; 
indeed,  one  may  say  that  even  altruism,  its  apparent 
opposite,  is  only  an  enlightened  egoism.  Nothing 
great  or  elevated  has  ever  taken  place  without  egoism, 
and  without  the  passion  that  urges  us  to  great  sacri- 
fices. It  is  only  the  excesses  of  the  impulse  that  are 
injurious.  One  of  the  Christian  precepts  that  were 
impressed  upon  us  in  our  early  youth  as  of  great  impor- 
tance, and  that  are  glorified  in  millions  of  sermons,  is : 
"  Love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you,  do 
good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  which 
despitefully  use  you  and  persecute  you."  It  is  a  very 
ideal  precept,  but  as  useless  in  practice  as  it  is  unnat- 
ural. So  it  is  with  the  counsel, "  If  any  man  will  take 

353 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

away  thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak  also."  Trans- 
lated into  the  terms  of  modern  life,  that  means :  "  When 
some  unscrupulous  scoundrel  has  defrauded  thee  of 
half  thy  goods,  let  him  have  the  other  half  also."  Or, 
again,  in  the  language  of  modern  politics:  "When 
the  pious  English  take  from  you  simple  Germans  one 
after  another  of  your  new  and  valuable  colonies  in 
Africa,  let  them  have  all  the  rest  of  your  colonies  also 
— or,  best  of  all,  give  them  Germany  itself."  And, 
while  we  touch  on  the  marvellous  world-politics  of 
modern  England,  we  may  note  in  passing  its  direct 
contradiction  of  every  precept  of  Christian  charity, 
which  is  more  frequently  on  the  lips  of  that  great  nation 
than  of  any  other  nation  in  the  world.  However,  the 
glaring  contradiction  between  the  theoretical,  ideal, 
altruistic  morality  of  the  human  individual  and  the 
real,  purely  selfish  morality  of  the  human  community, 
and  especially  of  the  civilized  Christian  state,  is  a  fa- 
miliar fact.  It  would  be  interesting  to  determine  math- 
ematically in  what  proportion  among  organized  men 
the  altruistic  ethical  ideal  of  the  individual  changes 
into  its  contrary,  the  purely  egoistic  "real  politics" 
of  the  state  and  the  nation. 

II.  Since  the  Christian  faith  takes  a  wholly  dualis- 
tic  view  of  the  human  organism  and  attributes  to  the 
immortal  soul  only  a  temporary  sojourn  in  the  mortal 
frame,  it  very  naturally  sets  a  much  greater  value  on 
the  soul  than  on  the  body.  Hence  results  that  neglect 
of  the  care  of  the  body,  of  training,  and  of  cleanliness 
which  contrasts  the  life  of  the  Christian  Middle  Ages 
so  unfavorably  with  that  of  pagan  classical  antiquity. 
Christian  ethics  contains  none  of  those  firm  commands 
as  to  daily  ablutions  which  are  theoretically  laid  down 
and  practically  fulfilled  in  the  Mohammedan,  Hindoo, 

354 


OUR    MONISTIC    ETHICS 

and  other  religions.  In  many  monasteries  the  ideal  of 
the  pious  Christian  is  the  man  who  does  not  wash  and 
clothe  himself  properly,  who  never  changes  his  malo- 
dorous gown,  and  who,  instead  of  regular  work,  fills 
up  his  useless  life  with  mechanical  prayers,  senseless 
fasts,  and  so  forth.  As  a  special  outgrowth  of  this 
contempt  of  the  body  we  have  the  disgusting  discipline 
of  the  flagellants  and  other  ascetics. 

III.  One  source  of  countless  theoretical  errors  and 
practical  blemishes,  of  deplorable  crudity  and  privation, 
is  found  in  the  false  anthropism  of  Christianity — that 
is,  in  the  unique  position  which  it  gives  to  man,  as  the 
image  of  God,  in  opposition  to  all  the  rest  of  nature.  In 
this  way  it  has  contributed,  not  only  to  an  extremely 
injurious  isolation  from  our  glorious  mother  "  nature/' 
but  also  to  a  regrettable  contempt  of  all  other  organ- 
isms. Christianity  has  no  place  for  that  well-known 
love  of  animals,  that  sympathy  with  the  nearly  related 
and  friendly  mammals  (dogs,  horses,  cattle,  etc.), 
which  is  urged  in  the  ethical  teaching  of  many  of  the 
older  religions,  especially  Buddhism.  Whoever  has 
spent  much  time  in  the  south  of  Europe  must  have 
often  witnessed  those  frightful  sufferings  of  animals 
which  fill  us  friends  of  animals  with  the  deepest  sym- 
pathy and  indignation.  And  when  one  expostulates 
with  these  brutal  "  Christians  "  on  their  cruelty,  the 
only  answer  is,  with  a  laugh :  "  But  the  beasts  are  not 
Christians."  Unfortunately  Descartes  gave  some  sup- 
port to  the  error  in  teaching  that  man  only  has  a  sen- 
sitive soul,  not  the  animal. 

How  much  more  elevated  is  our  monistic  ethics  than 
the  Christian  in  this  regard!  Darwinism  teaches  us 
that  we  have  descended  immediately  from  the  primates, 
and,  in  a  secondary  degree,  from  a  long  series  of  earlier 

355 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

mammals,  and  that,  therefore,  they  are  "  our  brothers  " ; 
physiology  informs  us  that  they  have  the  same  nerves 
and  sense-organs  as  we,  and  the  same  feelings  of  pleas- 
ure and  pain.  No  sympathetic  monistic  scientist 
would  ever  be  guilty  of  that  brutal  treatment  of  ani- 
mals which  comes  so  lightly  to  the  Christian  in  his 
anthropistic  illusion — to  the  "  child  of  the  God  of  love." 
Moreover,  this  Christian  contempt  of  nature  on  prin- 
ciple deprives  man  of  an  abundance  of  the  highest 
earthly  joys,  especially  of  the  keen,  ennobling  enjoy- 
ment of  nature. 

IV.  Since,  according  to  Christ's  teaching,  our  planet 
is  "  a  vale  of  tears,"  and  our  earthly  life  is  valueless 
and  a  mere  preparation  for  a  better  life  to  come,  it  has 
succeeded  in  inducing  men  to  sacrifice  all  happiness 
on  this  side  of  eternity  and  make  light  of  all  earthly 
goods.  Among  these  "  earthly  goods,"  in  the  case  of 
the  modern  civilized  man,  we  must  include  the  count- 
less great  and  small  conveniences  of  technical  science, 
hygiene,  commerce,  etc.,  which  have  made  modern  life 
cheerful  and  comfortable ;  we  must  include  all  the  grati- 
fications of  painting,  sculpture,  music,  and  poetry, 
which  flourished  exceedingly  even  during  the  Middle 
Ages  (in  spite  of  its  principles),  and  which  we  esteem 
as  "  ideal  pleasures  " ;  we  must  include  all  that  invalu- 
able progress  of  science,  especially  the  study  of  nature, 
of  which  the  nineteenth  century  is  justly  proud.  All 
these  "  earthly  goods,"  that  have  so  high  a  value  in  the 
eyes  of  the  monist,  are  worthless — nay,  injurious — for 
the  most  part,  according  to  Christian  teaching ;  the 
stern  code  of  Christian  morals  should  look  just  as  un- 
favorably on  the  pursuit  of  these  pleasures  as  our  hu- 
manistic ethics  fosters  and  encourages  it.  Once  more, 
therefore,  Christianity  is  found  to  be  an  enemy  to  civili- 

356 


OUR    MONISTIC    ETHICS 

zation,  and  the  struggle  which  modern  thought  and 
science  are  compelled  to  conduct  with  it  is,  in  this  addi- 
tional sense,  a  "  cultur-kampf ." 

V.  Another  of  the  most  deplorable  aspects  of  Chris- 
tian morality  is  its  belittlement  of  the  life  of  the  family, 
of  that  natural  living  together  with  our  next  of  kin 
which  is  just  as  necessary  in  the  case  of  man  as  in  the 
case  of  all  the  higher  social  animals.     The  family  is 
justly  regarded  as  the  "  foundation  of  society/'  and  the 
healthy  life  of  the  family  is  a  necessary  condition  of 
the  prosperity  of  the  State.     Christ,  however,  was  of  a 
very  different  opinion:  with  his  gaze  ever  directed  to 
"  the  beyond,"  he  thought  as  lightly  of  woman  and  the 
family  as  of  all  other  goods  of  "  this  life/'    Of  his  in- 
frequent contact  with  his  parents  and  sisters  the  gos- 
pels have  very  little  to  say  ;  but  they  are  far  from  rep- 
resenting his  relations  with  his  mother  to  have  been  so 
tender  and  intimate  as  they  are  poetically  depicted  in 
so  many  thousands  of  pictures.     He  was  not  married 
himself.     Sexual  love,  the  first  foundation  of  the  fam- 
ily union,  seems  to  have  been  regarded  by  Jesus  as  a 
necessary  evil.     His  most  enthusiastic  apostle,  Paul, 
went  still  farther  in  the  same  direction,  declaring  it  to 
be  better  not  to  marry  than  to  marry :  *  It  is  good  for 
a  man  not  to   touch  a  woman."    If  humanity  were 
to  follow  this  excellent  counsel,  it  would  soon  be  rid 
of  all  earthly  misery  and  suffering  ;  it  would  be  killed 
off  by  such  a  "  radical  cure  "  within  half  a  century. 

VI.  As  Christ  never  knew  the  love  of  woman,  he 
had  no  personal  acquaintance  with  that  refining  of 
man's  true  nature  that  comes  only  from  the  intimate 
life  of  man  with  woman.     The  intimate  sexual  union, 
on  which  the  preservation  of  the  human  race  depends, 
is  just  as  important  on  that  account  as  the  spiritual 

357 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

penetration  of  the  two  sexes,  or  the  mutual  comple- 
ment which  they  bring  to  each  other  in  the  practical 
wants  of  daily  life  as  well  as  in  the  highest  ideal  func- 
tions of  the  soul.  For  man  and  woman  are  two  differ- 
ent organisms,  equal  in  worth,  each  having  its  charac- 
teristic virtues  and  defects.  As  civilization  advanced, 
this  ideal  value  of  sexual  love  was  more  appreciated, 
and  woman  held  in  higher  honor,  especially  among  the 
Teutonic  races ;  she  is  the  inspiring  source  of  the  high- 
est achievements  of  art  and  poetry.  But  Christ  was  as 
far  from  this  view  as  nearly  the  whole  of  antiquity; 
he  shared  the  idea  that  prevailed  everywhere  in  the 
East — that  woman  is  subordinate  to  man,  and  inter- 
course with  her  is  "  unclean."  Long-suffering  nature 
has  taken  a  fearful  revenge  for  this  blunder;  its  sad 
consequences  are  written  in  letters  of  blood  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  papal  Middle  Ages. 

The  marvellous  hierarchy  of  the  Roman  Church,  that 
never  disdained  any  means  of  strengthening  its  spirit- 
ual despotism,  found  an  exceptionally  powerful  instru- 
ment in  the  manipulation  of  this  "  unclean  "  idea,  and 
in  the  promotion  of  the  ascetic  notion  that  abstinence 
from  intercourse  with  women  is  a  virtue  of  itself.  In  the 
first  few  centuries  after  Christ  a  number  of  priests  vol- 
untarily abstained  from  marriage,  and  the  supposed 
value  of  this  celibacy  soon  rose  to  such  a  degree  that 
it  was  made  obligator}^.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  seduc- 
tion of  women  of  good  repute  and  of  their  daughters  by 
Catholic  priests  (the  confessional  was  an  active  agency 
in  the  business)  was  a  public  scandal ;  many  commu- 
nities, in  order  to  prevent  such  things,  pressed  for  a 
license  of  concubinage  to  be  given  to  the  clergy. 
And  it  was  done  in  many,  and  sometimes  very  ro- 
matic,  ways.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  canon  law  that 

358 


OUR    MONISTIC   ETHICS 

the  priest's  cook  should  not  be  less  than  forty  years  old 
was  very  cleverly  "explained"  in  the  sense  that  the 
priest  might  have  two  cooks,  one  in  the  presbytery, 
another  without ;  if  one  was  twenty-four  and  the  other 
eighteen,  that  made  forty -two  together  —  two  years 
above  the  prescribed  age.  At  the  Christian  councils, 
at  which  heretics  were  burned  alive,  the  cardinals  and 
bishops  sat  down  with  whole  troops  of  prostitutes. 
The  private  and  public  debauchery  of  the  Catholic 
clergy  was  so  scandalous  and  dangerous  to  the  com- 
monwealth that  there  was  a  general  rebellion  against 
it  before  the  time  of  Luther,  and  a  loud  demand  for  a 
"  reformation  of  the  church  in  head  and  members."  It 
is  well  known  that  these  immoral  relations  still  con- 
tinue in  Roman  Catholic  lands,  although  more  in 
secret.  Formerly  proposals  were  made  from  time  to 
time  for  the  definitive  abrogation  of  celibacy,  as  was 
done,  for  instance,  in  the  chambers  of  Baden,  Ba- 
varia, Hesse,  Saxony,  and  other  lands  ;  but  they  have, 
unfortunately,  hitherto  proved  unavailing.  In  the 
German  Reichstag,  in  which  the  ultramontane  Centre 
is  now  proposing  the  most  ridiculous  measures  for  the 
suppression  of  sexual  immorality,  there  is  now  no 
party  that  will  urge  the  abolition  of  celibacy  in  the  in- 
terest of  public  morality.  The  so-called  "  Freethought " 
Party  and  the  utopian  social  democracy  coquette  with 
the  favor  of  the  Centre. 

The  modern  state  that  would  lift  not  only  the  mate- 
rial, but  the  moral,  life  of  its  people  to  a  higher  level 
is  entitled,  and  indeed  bound,  to  sweep  away  such 
unworthy  and  harmful  conditions.  The  obligatory 
celibacy  of  the  Catholic  clergy  is  as  pernicious  and 
immoral  as  the  practice  of  auricular  confession  or 
the  sale  of  indulgences.  All  three  have  nothing  what- 

359 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

ever  to  do  with  primitive  Christianity.  All  three  are 
directly  opposed  to  true  Christian  morality.  All  three 
are  disreputable  inventions  of  the  papacy,  designed 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  strengthening  its  despotic  rule 
over  the  credulous  masses  and  making  as  much 
material  profit  as  possible  out  of  them. 

The  Nemesis  of  history  will  sooner  or  later  exact  a 
terrible  account  of  the  Roman  papacy,  and  the  millions 
who  have  been  robbed  of  their  happiness  by  this  de- 
generate religion  will  help  to  give  it  its  death-blow  in 
the  coming  twentieth  century — at  least,  in  every  truly 
civilized  state.  It  has  been  recently  calculated  that 
the  number  of  men  who  lost  their  lives  in  the  papal 
persecutions  of  heretics,  the  Inquisition,  the  Christian 
religious  wars,  etc.,  is  much  more  than  ten  millions. 
But  what  is  this  in  comparison  with  the  tenfold  greater 
number  of  the  unfortunate  moral  victims  of  the  in- 
stitutions and  the  priestly  domination  of  the  degen- 
erate Christian  Church — with  the  unnumbered  millions 
whose  higher  mental  life  was  extinguished,  whose  con- 
science was  tortured,  whose  family  life  was  destroyed, 
by  the  Church?  We  may  with  truth  apply  the  words 
of  Goethe  in  his  Bride  of  Corinth  : 

"  Victims  fall,  nor  lambs  nor  bulls, 
But  human  victims  numberless." 

In  the  great  cultur-kampf ,  which  must  go  on  as  long 
as  these  sad  conditions  exist,  the  first  aim  must  be  the 
absolute  separation  of  Church  and  State.  There  shall 
be  "a  free  Church  in  a  free  State" — that  is,  every  Church 
shall  be  free  in  the  practice  of  its  special  worship  and 
ceremonies,  and  in  the  construction  of  its  fantastic 
poetry  and  superstitious  dogmas  —  with  the  sole  con- 
dition that  they  contain  no  danger  to  social  order  or 

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OUR    MONISTIC   ETHICS 

morality.  Then  there  will  be  equal  rights  for  all.  Free 
societies  and  monistic  religious  bodies  shall  be  equally 
tolerated,  and  just  as  free  in  their  movements  as  Lib- 
eral Protestant  and  orthodox  ultramontane  congrega- 
tions. But  for  all  these  "  faithful "  of  the  most  diverse 
sects  religion  will  have  to  be  a  private  concern.  The 
state  shall  supervise  them,  and  prevent  excesses ;  but 
it  must  neither  oppress  nor  support  them.  Above  all, 
the  ratepayers  shall  not  be  compelled  to  contribute  to 
the  support  and  spread  of  a  "  faith "  which  they  hon- 
estly believe  to  be  a  harmful  superstition.  In  the  United 
States  such  a  complete  separation  of  Church  and  State 
has  been  long  accomplished,  greatly  to  the  satisfaction 
of  all  parties.  They  have  also  the  equally  important 
separation  of  the  Church  from  the  school ;  that  is, 
undoubtedly,  a  powerful  element  in  the  great  advance 
which  science  and  culture  have  recently  made  in 
America. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  this  exclusion  of  the 
Church  from  the  school  only  refers  to  its  sectarian 
principles,  the  particular  form  of  belief  which  each 
Church  has  evolved  in  the  course  of  its  life.  This  sec- 
tarian education  is  purely  a  private  concern,  and 
should  be  left  to  parents  and  tutors,  or  to  such  priests  or 
teachers  as  may  have  the  personal  confidence  of  the 
parents.  Instead  of  the  rejected  sectarian  instruction, 
two  important  branches  of  education  will  be  introduced 
— monistic  or  humanist  ethics  and  comparative  relig- 
ion. During  the  last  thirty  years  an  extensive  litera- 
ture has  appeared  dealing  with  the  new  system  of  ethics 
which  has  been  raised  on  the  basis  of  modern  science 
— especially  evolutionary  science.  Comparative  re- 
ligion will  be  a  natural  companion  to  the  actual  ele- 
mentary instruction  in  "  biblical  history  *  and  in  the 

361 


THE   RIDDLE    OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

mythology  of  Greece  and  Rome.  Both  of  these  will 
remain  in  the  curriculum.  The  reason  for  that  is  ob- 
vious enough ;  the  whole  of  our  painting  and  sculpt- 
ure, the  chief  branches  of  monistic  aesthetics,  are  inti- 
mately blended  with  the  Christian,  Greek,  and  Roman 
mythologies.  There  will  only  be  this  important  dif- 
ference— that  the  Christian  myths  and  legends  will 
not  be  taught  as  truths,  but  as  poetic  fancies,  like  the 
Greek  and  Roman  myths  ;  the  high  value  of  the  ethical 
and  aesthetical  material  they  contain  will  not  be  les- 
sened, but  increased,  by  this  means.  As  regards  the 
Bible,  the  "book  of  books"  will  only  be  given  to  the 
children  in  carefully  selected  extracts  (a  sort  of  "school 
Bible ") ;  in  this  way  we  shall  avoid  the  besmirching 
of  the  child's  imagination  with  the  unclean  stories 
and  passages  which  are  so  numerous  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. 

Once  the  modern  State  has  freed  itself  and  its  schools 
from  the  fetters  of  the  Church,  it  will  be  able  to  de- 
vote more  attention  to  the  improvement  of  education. 
The  incalculable  value  of  a  good  system  of  education 
has  forced  itself  more  and  more  upon  us  as  the  many 
aspects  of  modern  civilized  life  have  been  enlarged  and 
enriched  in  the  course  of  the  century.  But  the  devel- 
opment of  the  educational  methods  has  by  no  means 
kept  pace  with  life  in  general.  The  necessity  for  a 
comprehensive  reform  of  our  schools  is  making  itself 
felt  more  and  more.  On  this  question,  too,  a  number 
of  valuable  works  have  appeared  in  the  course  of  the 
last  forty  years.  We  shall  restrict  ourselves  to  mak- 
ing a  few  general  observations  which  we  think  of  spe- 
cial importance. 

I.  In  all  education  up  to  the  present  time  man  has 
played  the  chief  part,  and  especially  the  grammatical 

362 


OUR    MONISTIC    ETHICS 

study  of  his  language ;  the  study  of  nature  was  entirely 
neglected. 

2.  In  the  school  of  the  future  nature  will  be  the  chief 
object  of  the  study  ;  a  man  shall  learn  a  correct  view  of 
the  world  he  lives  in ;  he  will  not  be  made  to  stand  out- 
side of  and  opposed  to  nature,  but  be  represented  as  its 
highest  and  noblest  product. 

3.  The  study  of  the  classical  tongues  (Latin  and! 
Greek),  which  has  hitherto  absorbed  most  of  the  pu- 
pils'* time  and  energy,  is  indeed  valuable ;  but  it  will 
be  much  restricted,  and  confined  to  the  mere  elements 
(obligatory  for  Latin,  optional  for  Greek). 

4.  In  consequence,  modern  languages  must  be  all  the 
more  cultivated  in  all  the  higher  schools  (English  and 
French  to  be  obligatory,  Italian  optional). 

5.  Historical  instruction  must  pay  more  attention  to 
the  inner  mental  and  spiritual  life  of  a  nation,  and  to 
the  development  of  its  civilization,  and  less  to  its  ex- 
ternal history  (the  vicissitudes  of  dynasties,  wars,  and 
so  forth). 

6.  The  elements   of  evolutionary  science,  must  be 
learned  in  conjunction  with  cosmology,  geology  must 
go  with  geography,  and  anthropology  with  biology. 

7.  The  first  principles  of  biology  must  be  familiar  to 
every  educated  man;  the  modern  training  in  observa- 
tion furnishes  an  attractive  introduction  to  the  biologi- 
cal sciences  (anthropology,  zoology,  and  botany).     A 
start  must  be  made  with  descriptive  system  (in  con- 
junction with  aetiology  or  bionomy) ;  the  elements  of 
anatomy  and  physiology  to  be  added  later  on. 

8.  The  first  principles  of  physics  and  chemistry  must 
also  be  taught,  and  their  exact  establishment  with  the 
aid  of  mathematics. 

9.  Every  pupil  must  be  taught  to  draw  well,  and 

363 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

from  nature ;  and,  wherever  it  is  possible,  the  use  of 
water-colors.  The  execution  of  drawings  and  of  water- 
color  sketches  from  nature  (of  flowers,  animals,  land- 
scapes, clouds,  etc.)  not  only  excites  interest  in  nature 
and  helps  memory  to  enjoy  objects,  but  it  gives  the 
pupil  his  first  lesson  in  seeing  correctly  and  under- 
standing what  he  has  seen. 

10.  Much  more  care  and  time  must  be  devoted  than 
has  been  done  hitherto  to  corporal  exercise,  to  gymnas- 
tics and  swimming ;  but  it  is  especially  important  to 
have  walks  in  common  every  week,  and  journeys  on 
foot  during  the  holidays.  The  lesson  in  observation 
w^hich  they  obtain  in  this  way  is  invaluable. 

The  chief  aim  of  higher  education  up  to  the  present 
time,  in  most  countries,  has  oeen  a  preparation  for  the 
subsequent  profession,  and  the  acquisition  of  a  certain 
amount  of  information  and  direction  for  civic  duties. 
The  school  of  the  twentieth  century  will  have  for  its 
main  object  the  formation  of  independent  thought,  the 
clear  understanding  of  the  knowledge  acquired,  and 
an  insight  into  the  natural  connection  of  phenomena. 
If  the  modern  state  gives  every  citizen  a  vote,  it  should 
also  give  him  the  means  of  developing  his  reason  by  a 
proper  education,  in  order  to  make  a  rational  use  of 
his  vote  for  the  commonweal. 


CHAPTER  XX 

( 

SOLUTION  OF  THE   WORLD-PROBLEMS      ! 

A  Glance  at  the  Progress  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  in  Solving 
Cosmic  Problems — I.  Progress  of  Astronomy  and  Cosmology 
— Physical  and  Chemical  Unity  of  the  Universe  —  Cosmic 
Metamorphoses — Evolution  of  the  Planetary  System — Anal- 
ogy °f  the  Phylogenetic  Processes  on  the  Earth  and  on 
Other  Planets — Organic  Inhabitants  of  Other  Heavenly  Bod- 
ies— Periodic  Variation  in  the  Making  of  Worlds — II.  Prog- 
ress of  Geology  and  Palaeontology — Neptunism  and  Vulcan- 
ism — Theory  of  Continuity — III.  Progress  of  Physics  and 
Chemistry — IV.  Progress  of  Biology — Cellular  Theory  and 
Theory  of  Descent — V.  Anthropology — Origin  of  Man — Gen- 
eral Conclusion 

A  T  the  close  of  our  philosophic  study  of  .the  riddles 
**  of  the  universe  we  turn  with  confidence  to  the 
answer  to  the  momentous  question,  How  nearly  have 
we  approached  to  a  solution  of  them?  What  is  the 
value  of  the  immense  progress  which  the  passing  nine- 
teenth century  has  made  in  the  knowledge  of  nature? 
And  what  prospect  does  it  open  out  to  us  for  the  future, 
for  the  further  development  of  our  system  in  the  twen- 
tieth century,  at  the  threshold  of  which  we  pause? 
Every  unprejudiced  thinker  who  impartially  consid- 
ers the  solid  progress  of  our  empirical  science,  and  the 
unity  and  clearness  of  our  philosophic  interpretation 
of  it,  will  share  our  view :  the  nineteenth  century  has 
made  greater  progress  in  knowledge  of  the  world  and 
25  365 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

in  grasp  of  its  nature  than  all  its  predecessors ;  it  has 
solved  many  great  problems  that  seemed  insoluble  a 
hundred  years  ago ;  it  has  opened  out  to  us  new  prov- 
inces of  learning,  the  very  existence  of  which  was  un- 
suspected at  the  beginning  of  the  century.  Above  all, 
it  has  put  clearly  before  our  eyes  the  lofty  aim  of  mon- 
istic cosmology,  and  has  pointed  out  the  path  which 
alone  will  lead  us  towards  it — the  way  of  the  exact  em- 
pirical investigation  of  facts,  and  of  the  critical  genetic 
study  of  their  causes.  The  great  abstract  law  of  me- 
chanical causality,  of  which  our  cosmological  law— 
the  law  of  substance  —  is  but  another  and  a  concrete 
expression,  now  rules  the  entire  universe,  as  it  does  the 
mind  of  man;  it  is  the  steady,  immovable  pole-star, 
whose  clear  light  falls  on  our  path  through  the  dark 
labyrinth  of  the  countless  separate  phenomena.  To 
see  the  truth  of  this  more  clearly,  let  us  cast  a  brief 
glance  at  the  astonishing  progress  which  the  chief 
branches  of  science  have  made  in  this  remarkable 
period. 

I.— PROGRESS  OF  ASTRONOMY 

The  study  of  the  heavens  is  the  oldest,  the  study  of 
man  the  youngest,  of  the  sciences.  With  regard  to 
himself  and  the  character  of  his  being  man  only  ob- 
tained a  clear  knowledge  in  the  second  half  of  the  pres- 
ent century  ;  with  regard  to  the  starry  heavens,  the  mo- 
tions of  the  planets,  and  so  on,  he  had  acquired  aston- 
ishing information  forty-five  hundred  years  ago.  The 
ancient  Chinese,  Hindoos,  Egyptians,  and  Chaldaeans 
in  the  distant  East  knew  more  of  the  science  of  the 
spheres  than  the  majority  of  educated  Christians  did  in 
the  West  four  thousand  years  after  them.  An  eclipse 
of  the  sun  was  astronomically  observed  in  China  in  the 

366 


SOLUTION  OF  THE  WORLD-PROBLEMS 

year  2697  B.C.,  and  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic  was  deter- 
mined by  means  of  a  gnome  eleven  hundred  years  B.C., 
while  Christ  himself  had  no  knowledge  whatever  of  as- 
tronomy— indeed,  he  looked  out  upon  heaven  and  earth, 
nature  and  man,  from  the  very  narrowest  geocentric 
and  anthropocentric  point  of  view.  The  greatest  ad- 
vance of  astronomy  is  generally,  and  rightly,  said  to  be 
the  founding  of  the  heliocentric  system  of  Copernicus, 
whose  famous  work,  De  Revolutionibus  Orbium  Celes- 
tium,  of  itself  caused  a  profound  revolution  in  the  minds 
of  thoughtful  men.  In  overthrowing  the  Ptolemaic 
system,  he  destroyed  the  foundation  of  the  Christian 
theory,  which  regarded  the  earth  as  the  centre  of  the 
universe  and  man  as  the  godlike  ruler  of  the  earth. 
It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  the  Christian  clergy, 
with  the  pope  at  its  head,  should  enter  upon  a  fierce 
struggle  with  the  invaluable  discovery  of  Copernicus. 
Yet  it  soon  cleared  a  path  for  itself,  when  Kepler  and 
Galileo  grounded  on  it  their  true  "  mechanics  of  the 
heavens,"  and  Newton  gave  it  a  solid  foundation  by 
his  theory  of  gravitation  (1686). 

A  further  great  advance,  comprehending  the  entire 
universe,  was  the  application  of  the  idea  of  evolution 
to  astronomy.  It  was  done  by  the  youthful  Kant  in 
!755  i  in  his  famous  general  natural  history  and  theory 
of  the  heavens  he  undertook  the  discussion,  not  only 
of  the  "  constitution,"  but  also  of  the  "  mechanical  ori- 
gin "  of  the  whole  world-structure  on  Newtonian  prin- 
ciples. The  splendid  Systeme  du  Monde  of  Laplace, 
who  had  independently  come  to  the  same  conclusions 
as  Kant  on  the  world-problem,  gave  so  firm  a  basis  to 
this  new  Mecanique  Celeste  in  1796  that  it  looked  as 
if  nothing  entirely  new  of  equal  importance  was  left 
to  be  discovered  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Yet  here 

367 


THE    RIDDLE    OF   THE   UNIVERSE 

again  it  had  the  honor  of  opening  out  entirely  new 
paths  and  infinitely  enlarging  our  outlook  on  the  uni- 
verse. The  invention  of  photography  and  photome- 
try, and  especially  of  spectral  analysis  (in  1860  by 
Bunsen  and  Kirchoff),  introduced  physics  and  chem- 
istry into  astronomy  and  led  to  cosmological  conclu- 
sions of  the  utmost  importance.  It  was  now  made 
perfectly  clear  that  matter  is  the  same  throughout  the 
universe,  and  that  its  physical  and  chemical  properties 
in  the  most  distant  stars  do  not  differ  from  those  of  the 
earth  under  our  feet. 

The  monistic  conviction,  which  we  thus  arrived  at, 
of  the  physical  and  chemical  unity  of  the  entire  cosmos 
is  certainly  one  of  the  most  valuable  general  truths 
which  we  owe  to  astrophysics,  the  new  branch  of  as- 
tronomy which  is  honorably  associated  with  the  name 
of  Friedrich  Zollner.  Not  less  important  is  the  clear 
knowledge  we  have  obtained  that  the  same  laws  of 
mechanical  development  that  we  have  on  the  earth  rule 
throughout  the  infinite  universe.  A  vast,  all-embrac- 
ing metamorphosis  goes  on  continuously  in  all  parts  of 
the  universe,  just  as  it  is  found  in  the  geological  his- 
tory of  the  earth ;  it  can  be  traced  in  the  evolution  of 
its  living  inhabitants  as  surely  as  in  the  history  of  peo- 
ples or  in  the  life  of  each  human  individual.  In  one 
part  of  space  we  perceive,  with  the  aid  of  our  best  tele- 
scopes, vast  nebulae  of  glowing,  infinitely  attenuated 
gas ;  we  see  in  them  the  embryos  of  heavenly  bodies, 
billions  of  miles  away,  in  the  first  stage  of  their  devel- 
opment. In  some  of  these  "  stellar  embryos "  the 
chemical  elements  do  not  seem  to  be  differentiated  yet, 
but  still  buried  in  the  homogeneous  primitive  matter 
(prothyl)  at  an  enormous  temperature  (calculated  to  run 
into  millions  of  degrees) ;  it  is  possible  that  the  origi- 

368 


SOLUTION  OF  THE  WORLD-PROBLEMS 

nal  basic  "  substance  "  (vide  p.  229)  is  not  yet  divided 
into  ponderable  and  imponderable  matter.  In  other 
parts  of  space  we  find  stars  that  have  cooled  down  into 
glowing  fluid,  and  yet  others  that  are  cold  and  rigid ; 
we  can  tell  their  stage  of  evolution  approximately  by 
their  color.  We  find  stars  that  are  surrounded  with 
rings  and  moons  like  Saturn ;  and  we  recognize  in  the 
luminous  ring  of  the  nebula  the  embryo  of  a  new  moon, 
which  has  detached  itself  from  the  mother-planet,  just 
as  the  planet  was  released  from  the  sun. 

Many  of  the  stars,  the  light  of  which  has  taken  thou- 
sands of  years  to  reach  us,  are  certainly  suns  like  our 
own  mother-sun,  and  are  girt  about  with  planets  and 
moons,  just  as  in  our  own  solar  system.  We  are  justified 
in  supposing  that  thousands  of  these  planets  are  in  a 
similar  stage  of  development  to  that  of  our  earth — that 
is,  they  have  arrived  at  a  period  when  the  temperature 
at  the  surface  lies  between  the  freezing  and  boiling 
point  of  water,  and  so  permits  the  existence  of  water 
in  its  liquid  condition.  That  makes  it  possible  that 
carbon  has  entered  into  the  same  complex  combinations 
on  those  planets  as  it  has  done  on  our  earth,  and  that 
from  its  nitrogenous  compounds  protoplasm  has  been 
evolved — that  wonderful  substance  which  alone,  as  far 
as  our  knowledge  goes,  is  the  possessor  of  organic  life. 
The  monera  (for  instance,  chromacea  and  bacteria), 
which  consist  only  of  this  primitive  protoplasm,  and 
which  arise  by  spontaneous  generation  from  these  in- 
organic nitrocarbonates,  may  thus  have  entered  upon 
the  same  course  of  evolution  on  many  other  planets  as 
on  our  own;  first  of  all,  living  cells  of  the  simplest 
character  would  be  formed  from  their  homogeneous 
protoplasmic  body  by  the  separation  of  an  inner  nu- 
cleus from  the  outer  cell  body  (cytostoma).  Further, 

369 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

the  analogy  that  we  find  in  the  life  of  all  cells — whether 
plasmodomous  plant-cells  or  plasmophagous  animal- 
cells — justifies  the  inference  that  the  further  course  of 
organic  evolution  on  these  other  planets  has  been 
analogous  to  that  of  our  own  earth — always,  of  course, 
given  the  same  limits  of  temperature  which  permit  water 
in  a  liquid  form.  In  the  glowing  liquid  bodies  of  the 
stars,  where  water  can  only  exist  in  the  form  of  steam, 
and  on  the  cold  extinct  suns,  where  it  can  only  be  in  the 
shape  of  ice,  such  organic  life  as  we  know  is  impossible. 

The  similarity  of  phylogeny,  or  the  analogy  of  or- 
ganic evolution,  which  we  may  thus  assume  in  many 
stars  which  are  at  the  same  stage  of  biogenetic  devel- 
opment, naturally  opens  out  a  wide  field  of  brilliant 
speculation  to  the  constructive  imagination.  A  favor- 
ite subject  for  such  speculation  has  long  been  the  ques- 
tion whether  there  are  men,  or  living  beings  like  our- 
selves, perhaps  much  more  highly  developed,  in  other 
planets?  Among  the  many  works  which  have  sought 
to  answer  the  question,  those  of  Camille  Flammarion, 
the  Parisian  astronomer,  have  recently  been  extremely 
popular;  they  are  equally  distinguished  by  exuberant 
imagination  and  brilliant  style,  and  by  a  deplorable 
lack  of  critical  judgment  and  biological  knowledge. 
We  may  condense  in  the  following  thesis  the  present 
condition  of  our  knowledge  on  the  subject : 

I.  It  is  very  probable  that  a  similar  biogenetic  proc- 
ess to  that  of  our  own  earth  is  taking  place  on  some  of 
the  other  planets  of  our  solar  system  (Mars  and  Venus), 
and  on  many  planets  of  other  solar  systems  ;  first  sim- 
ple monera  are  formed  by  spontaneous  generation,  and 
from  these  arise  unicellular  protists  (first  plasmodom- 
ous primitive  plants,  and  then  plasmophagous  primi- 
tive animals). 

370 


SOLUTION  OF  THE  WORLD-PROBLEMS 

II.  It  is  very  probable  that  from  these  unicellular 
protists  arise,  in  the  further  course  of  evolution,  first 
social  cell-communities   (ccenobia),   and  subsequently 
tissue-forming  plants  and  animals   (metaphyta  and 
metazoa). 

III.  It  is  also  very  probable  that  thallophyta  (algae 
and  fungi)  were  the  first  to  appear  in  the  plant-king- 
dom, then  diaphyta  (mosses  and  ferns),  finally  antho- 
phyta  (gymnosperm  and  angiosperm  flowering  plants). 

IV.  It  is  equally  probable  that  the   biogenetic  proc- 
ess took  a  similar  course  in  the  animal   kingdom — 
that  from  the  blastaeads  (catallacta)  first  gastraeads 
were  formed,  and  from  these  lower  animal  forms  (cce- 
lenteria)  higher  organisms  (coelomaria)  were  afterwards 
evolved. 

V.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  very  questionable  wheth- 
er the  different  stems  of  these  higher  animals  (and 
those  of  the  higher  plants  as  well)  run  through  the 
same  course  of  development  on  other  planets  as  on  our 
earth. 

VI.  In  particular,  it   is  wholly  uncertain  whether 
there  are  vertebrates  on  other  planets,  and  whether, 
in  the  course  of  their  phyletic  development,  taking 
millions  of  years,  mammals  are  formed  as  on  earth, 
reaching  their  highest  point  in  the  formation  of  man ; 
in  such  an  event,  millions  of  changes  would  have  to 
be  just  the  same  in  both  cases. 

VII.  It  is  much  more  probable,  on  the  contrary,  that 
other  planets  have  produced  other  types  of  the  higher 
plants  and  animals,  which  are  unknown  on  our  earth ; 
perhaps  from  some  higher  animal  stem,  which  is  su- 
perior to  the  vertebrate  in  formation,  higher  beings 
have  arisen  who  far  transcend  us  earthly  men  in 
intelligence. 


THE   RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

VIII.  The  possibility  of  our  ever  entering  into  di- 
rect communication  with  such  inhabitants  of  other 
planets  seems  to  be  excluded  by  the  immense  distance 
of  our  earth  from  the  other  heavenly  bodies,  and  the 
absence  of  the  requisite  atmosphere  in  the  intervening 
space,  which  contains  only  ether. 

But  while  many  of  the  stars  are  probably  in  a  sim- 
ilar stage  of  biogenetic  development  to  that  of  our  earth 
(for  the  last  one  hundred  million  years  at  least),  others 
have  advanced  far  beyond  this  stage,  and,  in  their  plan- 
etary old  age,  are  hastening  towards  their  end — the 
same  end  that  inevitably  awaits  our  own  globe.  The 
radiation  of  heat  into  space  gradually  lowers  the  tem- 
perature until  all  the  water  is  turned  into  ice;  that 
is  the  end  of  all  organic  life.  The  substance  of  the 
rotating  mass  contracts  more  and  more ;  the  rapidity 
of  its  motion  gradually  falls  off.  The  orbits  of  the 
planets  and  of  their  moons  grow  narrower.  At  length 
the  moons  fall  upon  the  planets,  and  the  planets  are 
drawn  into  the  sun  that  gave  them  birth.  The  col- 
lision again  produces  an  enormous  quantity  of  heat. 
The  pulverized  mass  of  the  colliding  bodies  is  distrib- 
uted freely  through  infinite  space,  and  the  eternal 
drama  of  sun-birth  begins  afresh. 

The  sublime  picture  which  modern  astrophysics 
thus  unveils  before  the  mind's  eye  shows  us  an  eternal 
birth  and  death  of  countless  heavenly  bodies,  a  peri- 
odic change  from  one  to  the  other  of  the  different  cos- 
mogenetic  conditions,  which  we  observe  side  by  side 
in  the  universe.  While  the  embryo  of  a  new  world  is 
being  formed  from  a  nebula  in  one  corner  of  the  vast 
stage  of  the  universe,  another  has  already  condensed 
into  a  rotating  sphere  of  liquid  fire  in  some  far  distant 
spot ;  a  third  has  already  cast  off  rings  at  its  equator, 

372 


SOLUTION  OF  THE  WORLD-PROBLEMS 

which  round  themselves  into  planets ;  a  fourth  has  be- 
come a  vast  sun  whose  planets  have  formed  a  second- 
ary retinue  of  moons,  and  so  on.  And  between  them 
are  floating  about  in  space  myriads  of  smaller  bodies, 
meteorites,  or  shooting-stars,  which  cross  and  recross 
the  paths  of  the  planets  apparently  like  lawless  vaga- 
bonds, and  of  which  a  great  number  fall  onto  the  plan- 
ets every  day.  Thus  there  is  a  continuous  but  slow 
change  in  the  velocities  and  the  orbits  of  the  revolving 
spheres.  The  frozen  moons  fall  onto  the  planets, 
the  planets  onto  their  suns.  Two  distant  suns,  per- 
haps already  stark  and  cold,  rush  together  with  in- 
conceivable force  and  melt  away  into  nebulous  clouds. 
And  such  prodigious  heat  is  generated  by  the  collision 
that  the  nebula  is  once  more  raised  to  incandescence, 
and  the  old  drama  begins  again.  Yet  in  this  "  per- 
petual motion  "  the  infinite  substance  of  the  universe, 
the  sum  total  of  its  matter  and  energy,  remains  eter- 
nally unchanged,  and  we  have  an  eternal  repetition 
in  infinite  time  of  the  periodic  dance  of  the  worlds,  the 
metamorphosis  of  the  cosmos  that  ever  returns  to  its 
starting-point.  Over  all  rules  the  law  of  substance. 

II.— PROGRESS  OF  GEOLOGY 

The  earth  and  its  origin  were  much  later  than  the 
heavens  in  becoming  the  object  of  scientific  investiga- 
tion. The  numerous  ancient  and  modern  cosmogonies 
do,  indeed,  profess  to  give  us  as  good  an  insight  into 
the  origin  of  the  earth  as  into  that  of  the  heavens ;  but 
the  mythological  raiment,  in  which  all  alike  are  clothed, 
betrays  their  origin  in  poetic  fancy.  Among  the  count- 
less legends  of  creation  which  we  find  in  the  history  of 
religions  and  of  thought  there  is  one  that  soon  took 

373 


THE    RIDDLE    OF    THE    UNIVERSE 

precedence  of  all  the  rest— the  Mosaic  story  of  creation 
as  told  in  the  first  book  of  the  Hexateuch.  It  did  not 
exist  in  its  present  form  until  long  after  the  death  of 
Moses  (probably  not  until  eight  hundred  years  after- 
wards) ;  but  its  sources  are  much  older,  and  are  to  be 
found  for  the  most  part  in  Assyrian,  Babylonian,  and 
Hindoo  legends.  This  Hebrew  legend  of  creation  ob- 
tained its  great  influence  through  its  adoption  into  the 
Christian  faith  and  its  consecration  as  the  "  Word  of 
God."  Greek  philosophers  had  already,  five  hundred 
years  before  Christ,  explained  the  natural  origin  of  the 
earth  in  the  same  way  as  that  of  other  cosmic  bodies. 
Xenophanes  of  Colophon  had  even  recognized  the  true 
character  of  the  fossils  which  were  afterwards  to  prove 
of  such  moment ;  the  great  painter,  Leonardo  da  Vinci, 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  also  explained  the  fossils  as 
the  petrified  remains  of  animals  which  had  lived  in 
earlier  periods  of  the  earth's  history.  But  the  author- 
ity of  the  Bible,  especially  the  myth  of  the  deluge,  pre- 
vented any  further  progress  in  this  direction,  and  in- 
sured the  triumph  of  the  Mosaic  legend  until  about  the 
middle  of  the  last  century.  It  survives  even  at  the 
present  day  among  orthodox  theologians.  However, 
in  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  scientific 
inquiry  into  the  structure  of  the  crust  of  the  earth  set 
to  work  independently  of  the  Mosaic  story,  and  it  soon 
led  to  certain  conclusions  as  to  the  origin  of  the  earth. 
The  founder  of  geology,  Werner  of  Freiberg,  thought 
that  all  the  rocks  were  formed  in  water,  while  Voigt 
and  Hutton  (1788)  rightly  contended  that  only  the 
stratified,  fossil-bearing  rocks  had  had  an  aquatic  ori- 
gin, and  that  the  Vulcanic  or  Plutonic  mountain  ranges 
had  been  formed  by  the  cooling  down  of  molten  matter. 
The  heated  conflict  of  these  "  Neptunian  "  and  "  Plu- 
374 


SOLUTION  OF  THE  WORLD-PROBLEMS 

tonic  "  schools  was  still  going  on  during  the  first  three 
decades  of  the  present  century  ;  it  was  only  settled  when 
Karl  Hoff  (1822)  established  the  principle  of  "actual- 
ism,"  and  Sir  Charles  Lyell  applied  it  with  signal  suc- 
cess to  the  entire  natural  evolution  of  the  earth.  The 
Principles  of  Geology  of  Lyell  (1830)  secured  the  full 
recognition  of  the  supremely  important  theory  of  con- 
tinuity in  the  formation  of  the  earth's  crust,  as  opposed 
to  the  catastrophic  theory  of  Cuvier.*  Palaeontology, 
which  had  been  founded  by  Cuvier's  work  on  fossil 
bones  (1812),  was  of  the  greatest  service  to  geology; 
by  the  middle  of  the  present  century  it  had  advanced 
so  far  that  the  chief  periods  in  the  history  of  the  earth 
and  its  inhabitants  could  be  established.  The  com- 
paratively thin  crust  of  the  earth  was  now  recognized 
with  certainty  to  be  the  hard  surface  formed  by  the 
cooling  of  an  incandescent  fluid  planet,  which  still  con- 
tinues its  slow,  unbroken  course  of  refrigeration  and 
condensation.  The  crumpling  of  the  stiffened -crust, 
"  the  reaction  of  the  molten  fiery  contents  on  the  cool 
surface,"  and  especially  the  unceasing  geological  ac- 
tion of  water,  are  the  natural  causes  which  are  daily 
at  work  in  the  secular  formation  of  the  crust  of  the 
earth  and  its  mountains. 

To  the  brilliant  progress  of  modern  geology  we  owe 
three  extremely  important  results  of  general  import.  In 
the  first  place,  it  has  excluded  from  the  story  of  the 
earth  all  questions  of  miracle,  all  questions  of  super- 
natural agencies,  in  the  building  of  the  mountains  and 
the  shaping  of  the  continents.  In  the  second  place, 
our  idea  of  the  length  of  the  vast  period  of  time  which 
had  been  absorbed  in  their  formation  has  been  consid- 

*Cf.  The  Natural  History  of  Creation,  chaps,  iii.,  vi.,  xv.,  and 
xvi. 

375 


THE    RIDDLE    OF  THE    UNIVERSE 

erably  enlarged.  We  now  know  that  the  huge  moun- 
tains of  the  palaeozoic,  mesozoic,  and  cenozoic  forma- 
tions have  taken,  not  thousands,  but  millions  of  years 
in  their  growth.  In  the  third  place,  we  now  know  that 
all  the  countless  fossils  that  are  found  in  those  forma- 
tions are  not  "  sports  of  nature/'  as  was  believed  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  but  the  petrified  remains 
of  organisms  that  lived  in  earlier  periods  of  the  earth's 
history,  and  arose  by  gradual  transformation  from  a 
long  series  of  ancestors. 

HI.— -PROGRESS  OF  PHYSICS  AND  CHEMISTRY 

The  many  important  discoveries  which  these  funda- 
mental sciences  have  made  during  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury are  so  well  known,  and  their  practical  application 
in  every  branch  of  modern  life  is  so  obvious,  that  we 
need  not  discuss  them  in  detail  here.  In  particular, 
the  application  of  steam  and  electricity  has  given  to 
our  nineteenth  century  its  characteristic  "  machinist- 
stamp."  But  the  colossal  progress  of  inorganic  and 
organic  chemistry  is  not  less  important.  All  branches 
of  modern  civilization — medicine  and  technology,  in- 
dustry and  agriculture,  mining  and  forestry,  land  and 
water  transport — have  been  so  much  improved  in  the 
course  of  the  century,  especially  in  the  second  half, 
that  our  ancestors  of  the  eighteenth  century  would  find 
themselves  in  a  new  world,  could  they  return.  But 
more  valuable  and  important  still  is  the  great  theoreti- 
cal expansion  of  our  knowledge  of  nature,  which  we 
owe  to  the  establishment  of  the  law  of  substance.  Once 
Lavoisier  (1789)  had  established  the  law  of  the  persist- 
ence of  matter,  and  Dalton  (1808)  had  founded  his  new 
atomic  theory  with  its  assistance,  a  way  was  open  to 

376 


SOLUTION  OF  THE  WORLD-PROBLEMS 

modern  chemistry  along  which  it  has  advanced  with  a 
rapidity  and  success  beyond  all  anticipation.  The 
same  must  be  said  of  physics  in  respect  of  the  law  of 
the  conservation  of  energy.  Its  discovery  by  Robert 
Mayer  (1842)  and  Hermann  Helmholtz  (1847)  inaugu- 
rated for  this  science  also  a  new  epoch  of  the  most  fruit- 
ful development;  for  it  put  physics  in  a  position  to 
grasp  the  universal  unity  of  the  forces  of  nature  and 
the  eternal  play  of  natural  processes,  in  which  one 
force  may  be  converted  into  another  at  any  moment. 

IV.— PROGRESS  OF  BIOLOGY 

The  great  discoveries  which  astronomy  and  geology 
have  made  during  the  nineteenth  century,  and  which 
are  of  extreme  importance  to  our  whole  system,  are, 
nevertheless,  far  surpassed  by  those  of  biology.  In- 
deed, we  may  say  that  the  greater  part  of  the  many 
branches  which  this  comprehensive  science  of  organic 
life  has  recently  produced  have  seen  the  light  in  the 
course  of  the  present  century.  As  we  saw  in  the  first 
section,  during  the  century  all  branches  of  anatomy 
and  physiology,  botany  and  zoology,  ontogeny  and  phy- 
logeny,  have  been  so  marvellously  enriched  by  count- 
less discoveries  that  the  present  condition  of  biological 
science  is  immeasurably  superior  to  its  condition  a 
hundred  years  ago.  That  applies  first  of  all  quanti- 
tatively to  the  colossal  growth  of  our  positive  informa- 
tion in  all  those  provinces  and  their  several  parts.  But 
it  applies  with  even  greater  force  qualitatively  to  the 
deepening  of  our  comprehension  of  biological  phenom- 
ena, and  our  knowledge  of  their  efficient  causes.  In 
this  Charles  Darwin  (1859)  takes  the  palm  of  victory ; 
by  his  theory  of  selection  he  has  solved  the  great  prob- 

377 


THE    RIDDLE   OF   THE    UNIVERSE 

lem  of  "  organic  creation,"  of  the  natural  origin  of  the 
countless  forms  of  life  by  gradual  transformation. 
It  is  true  that  Lamarck  had  recognized  fifty  years 
earlier  that  the  mode  of  this  transformation  lay  in  the 
reciprocal  action  of  heredity  and  adaptation.  How- 
ever, Lamarck  was  hampered  by  his  lack  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  selection,  and  of  that  deeper  insight  into  the  true 
nature  of  organization  which  was  only  rendered  possi- 
ble after  the  founding  of  the  theory  of  evolution  and 
the  cellular  theory.  When  we  collated  the  results  of 
these  and  other  disciplines,  and  found  the  key  to  their 
harmonious  interpretation  in  the  ancestral  development 
of  living  beings,  we  succeeded  in  establishing  the  mon- 
istic biology,  the  principles  of  which  I  have  endeavored 
to  lay  down  securely  in  my  General  Morphology. 

V.— PROGRESS  OF  ANTHROPOLOGY 

In  a  certain  sense,  the  true  science  of  man,  rational 
anthropology,  takes  precedence  of  every  other  science. 
The  saying  of  the  ancient  sage,  "Man,  know  thyself," 
and  that  other  famous  maxim,  "Man  is  the  measure 
of  all  things,"  have  been  accepted  and  applied  from  all 
time.  And  yet  this  science — taking  it  in  its  widest  sense 
— has  languished  longer  than  all  other  sciences  in  the 
fetters  of  tradition  and  superstition.  We  saw  in  the 
first  section  how  slowly  and  how  late  the  science  of 
the  human  organism  was  developed.  One  of  its  chief 
branches — embryology — was  not  firmly  established 
until  1828  (by  Baer),  and  another,  of  equal  importance 
— the  cellular  theory — until  1838  (by  Schwann).  And 
it  was  even  later  still  when  the  answer  was  given  to  the 
"question  of  all  questions,"  the  great  riddle  of  the 
origin  of  man.  Although  Lamarck  had  pointed  out 

378 


SOLUTION  OF  THE  WORLD-PROBLEMS 

the  only  path  to  a  correct  solution  of  it  in  1809,  and 
had  affirmed  the  descent  of  man  from  the  ape,  it  fell  to 
Darwin  to  establish  the  affirmation  securely  fifty  years 
afterwards,  and  to  Huxley  to  collect  the  most  important 
proofs  of  it  in  1863,  in  his  Place  of  Man  in  Nature. 
I  have  myself  made  the  first  attempt,  in  my  Anthro- 
pogeny  (1874),  to  present  in  their  historical  connection 
the  entire  series  of  ancestors  through  which  our  race 
has  been  slowly  evolved  from  the  animal  kingdom  in 
the  course  of  many  millions  of  years. 


CONCLUSION 

number  of  world-riddles  has  been  continually 
diminishing  in  the  course  of  the  nineteenth  century 
through  the  aforesaid  progress  of  a  true  knowledge  of 
nature.  Only  one  comprehensive  riddle  of  the  universe 
now  remains — the  problem  of  substance.  What  is 
the  real  character  of  this  mighty  world-wonder  that 
the  realistic  scientist  calls  Nature  or  the  Universe,  the 
idealist  philosopher  calls  Substance  or  the  Cosmos, 
the  pious  believer  calls  Creator  or  God?  Can  we  affirm 
to-day  that  the  marvellous  progress  of  modern  cosmol- 
ogy has  solved  this  "  problem  of  substance/'  or  at  least 
that  it  has  brought  us  nearer  to  the  solution? 

The  answer  to  this  final  question  naturally  varies  con- 
siderably according  to  the  stand-point  of  the  philosophic 
inquirer  and  his  empirical  acquaintance  with  the  real 
world.  We  grant  at  once  that  the  innermost  character 
of  nature  is  just  as  little  understood  by  us  as  it  was  by 
Anaximander  and  Empedocles  twenty-four  hundred 
years  ago,  by  Spinoza  and  Newton  two  hundred  years 
ago,  and  by  Kant  and  Goethe  one  hundred  years  ago. 
We  must  even  grant  that  this  essence  of  substance  be- 
comes more  mysterious  and  enigmatic  the  deeper  we 
penetrate  into  the  knowledge  of  its  attributes,  matter 
and  energy,  and  the  more  thoroughly  we  study  its 
countless  phenomenal  forms  and  their  evolution.  We 
do  not  know  the  "  thing  in  itself  "  that  lies  behind  these 
knowable  phenomena.  But  why  trouble  about  this 

380 


CONCLUSION 

enigmatic  "thing  in  itself"  when  we  have  no  means 
of  investigating  it,  when  we  do  not  even  clearly  know 
whether  it  exists  or  not?  Let  us,  then,  leave  the  fruit- 
less brooding  over  this  ideal  phantom  to  the  "pure 
metaphysician/'  and  let  us  instead,  as  "real  physi- 
cists," rejoice  in  the  immense  progress  which  has  been 
actually  made  by  our  monistic  philosophy  of  nature. 

Towering  above  all  the  achievements  and  discov- 
eries of  the  century  we  have  the  great,  comprehensive 
"law  of  substance,"  the  fundamental  law  of  the  con- 
stancy of  matter  and  f®rce.  The  fact  that  substance 
is  everywhere  subject  to  eternal  movement  and  trans- 
formation gives  it  the  character  also  of  the  universal 
law  of  evolution.  As  this  supreme  law  has  been  firm- 
ly established,  and  all  others  are  subordinate  to  it,  we 
arrive  at  a  conviction  of  the  universal  unity  of  nature 
and  the  eternal  validity  of  its  laws.  From  the  gloomy 
problem  of  substance  we  have  evolved  the  clear  law 
of  substance.  The  monism  of  the  cosmos  which  we 
establish  thereon  proclaims  the  absolute  dominion  of 
"  the  great  eternal  iron  laws  "  throughout  the  universe. 
It  thus  shatters,  at  the  same  time,  the  three  central 
dogmas  of  the  dualistic  philosophy — the  personality 
of  God,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  the  freedom 
of  the  will. 

Many  of  us  certainly  view  with  sharp  regret,  or  even 
with  a  profound  sorrow,  the  death  of  the  gods  that  were 
so  much  to  our  parents  and  ancestors.  We  must  con- 
sole ourselves  in  the  words  of  the  poet : 

*  The  times  are  changed,  old  systems  fall, 
And  new  life  o'er  their  ruins  dawns." 

The  older  view  of  idealistic  dualism  is  breaking  up 
with  all  its  mystic  and  anthropistic  dogmas ;  but  upon 
*>  381 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

the  vast  field  of  ruins  rises,  majestic  and  brilliant,  the 
new  sun  of  our  realistic  monism,  which  reveals  to  us 
the  wonderful  temple  of  nature  in  all  its  beauty.  In 
the  sincere  cult  of  "  the  true,  the  good,  and  the  beauti- 
ful," which  is  the  heart  of  our  new  monistic  religion, 
we  find  ample  compensation  for  the  anthropistic  ideals 
of  "God,  freedom,  and  immortality"  which  we  have 
lost. 

Throughout  this  discussion  of  the  riddles  of  the  uni- 
verse I  have  clearly  defined  my  consistent  monistic 
position  and  its  opposition  to  the  still  prevalent  dual- 
istic  theory.  In  this  I  am  supported  by  the  agreement 
of  nearly  all  modern  scientists  who  have  the  courage 
to  accept  a  rounded  philosophical  system.  I  must  not, 
however,  take  leave  of  my  readers  without  pointing 
out  in  a  conciliatory  way  that  this  strenuous  opposition 
may  be  toned  down  to  a  certain  degree  on  clear  and 
logical  reflection  —  may,  indeed,  even  be  converted 
into  a  friendly  harmony.  In  a  thoroughly  logical 
mind,  applying  the  highest  principles  with  equal  force 
in  the  entire  field  of  the  cosmos — in  both  organic  and 
inorganic  nature — the  antithetical  positions  of  theism 
and  pantheism,  vitalism  and  mechanism,  approach 
until  they  touch  each  other.  Unfortunately,  consec- 
utive thought  is  a  rare  phenomenon  in  nature.  The 
great  majority  of  philosophers  are  content  to  grasp 
with  the  right  hand  the  pure  knowledge  that  is  built 
on  experience,  but  they  will  not  part  with  the  mystic 
faith  based  on  revelation,  to  which  they  cling  with  the 
left.  The  best  type  of  this  contradictory  dualism  is 
the  conflict  of  pure  and  practical  reason  in  the  critical 
philosophy  of  the  most  famous  of  modern  thinkers, 
Immanuel  Kant. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  number  is  always  small  of 

382 


CONCLUSION 

the  thinkers  who  will  boldly  reject  dualism  and  em- 
brace pure  monism.  That  is  equally  true  of  consist- 
ent idealists  and  theists,  and  of  logical  realists  and 
pantheists.  However,  the  reconciliation  of  these  ap- 
parent antitheses,  and,  consequently,  the  advance 
towards  the  solution  of  the  fundamental  riddle  of  the 
universe,  is  brought  nearer  to  us  every  year  in  the  ever- 
increasing  growth  of  our  knowledge  of  nature.  We 
may,  therefore,  express  a  hope  that  the  approaching 
twentieth  century  will  complete  the  task  of  resolving 
the  antitheses,  and,  by  the  construction  of  a  system 
of  pure  monism,  spread  far  and  wide  the  long-desired 
unity  of  world-conception.  Germany's  greatest  think- 
er and  poet,  whose  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary will  soon  be  upon  us — Wolfgang  Goethe — gave 
this  " philosophy  of  unity"  a  perfect  poetic  expression, 
at  the  very  beginning  of  the  century,  in  his  immortal 
poems,  Faust,  Prometheus,  and  God  and  the  World : 

"  By  eternal  laws 
Of  iron  ruled, 
Must  all  fulfil 
The  cycle  of 
Their  destiny/ 


INDEX 


Abiogenesis,  257,  369. 
Abortive  organs,  264. 
Accidents,  216. 
Acrania,  1 66. 
Action  at  a  distance,  217. 
Actualism,  249. 
^sthesis,  225. 
Affinity,  224. 
Altruism,  350. 
Amphibia,  167. 
Amphimixis,  141. 
Ampitheism,  278. 
Ananke,  272. 
Anatomy,  22,  etc. 

comparative,  24. 
Anaximander,  289,  379. 
Anthropism,  n. 
Anthropistic  illusion,  14,  etc. 

world-theory,  13. 
Anthropocentric  dogma,  II,  etc. 
Anthropogeny,  83. 
Anthropolatric  dogma,  12. 
Anthropomorpha,  36. 
Anthropomorphic  dogma,  12. 
Apes,  36,  37,  167. 

anthropoid,  37. 
Archaeus,  43. 
Archigony,  257. 
Aristotle,  23,  268. 
Association,  centres  of,  183. 

of  ideas,  121. 

of  presentations,  121,  122. 
Astronomy,  progress  of,  366. 
Astrophysics,  368. 
Atavism,  142. 
Athanatism,  189. 
2B 


Athanatistic  illusions,  205. 

Atheism,  290. 

Atheistic  science,  260. 

Atom,  the,  222. 

Atomism,  223. 

Atomistic  consciousness,  187. 

Attributes  of  ether,  227. 

of  substance,  216. 
Augustine  of  Hippo,  130. 
Auricular  confession,  319,  359. 
Autogony,  257. 

Baer  (Carl  Ernst),  57. 
Bastian  (Adolf),  103. 
Beginning  of  the  world,  240, 

247. 

Bible,  the,  282,  362. 
Biogenesis,  257. 
Biogenetic  law,  81,  143. 
Bismarck,  334. 
Blastoderm,  150,  155. 
Blastosphere,  153. 
Blastula,  153. 

Bruno  (Giordano),  290,  317. 
Buchner  (Ludwig),  93. 
Buddhism,  326,  355. 

Calvin,  130. 
Canonical  gospels,  312. 
Carbon  as  creator,  256. 

theory,  257. 
Catarrhinae,  35. 
Catastrophic  theory,  74. 
Categorical  imperative,  350. 
Causes,  efficient,  258. 

final,  258. 


INDEX 


Celibacy,  358. 
Cell-love,  137. 

community,  soul  of  the,  155. 

soul,  151. 

state,  157. 
Cellular  pathology,  50. 

physiology,  48. 

psychology,  153,  177. 

theory,  26. 
Cenobitic  soul,  155. 
Cenogenesis,  82. 

of  the  psyche,  144. 
Chance,  274. 
Chemicotropism,  64,  136. 
Chordula,  64. 
Chorion,  68. 
Christ,  father  of,  327. 
Christian  art,  339. 

civilization,  356. 

contempt  of  the  body,  354. 
animals,  355. 
nature,  355. 
self,  353- 
the  family,  357. 
woman,  358. 

ethics,  352. 
Christianity,  347. 
Church  and  school,  362. 

state,  361. 
Cnidaria,  161. 
Conception,  64. 

Concubinage  of  the  clergy,  358. 
Confession  of  faith,  302. 
Consciousness,  170. 

animal,  176. 

atomistic,  178. 

biological,  176. 

cellular,  177. 

development  of,  185. 

dualistic,  182. 

human,  173. 

monistic,  182. 

neurological,  174. 

ontogeny  of,  186. 

pathology  of,  182. 

physiological,  1 80. 

transcendental,  1 80. 
Constancy  of  energy,  212,  231. 

matter,  212. 
Constantine  the  Great,  316. 


Constellations  of  substance,  218. 
Conventional  lies,  323. 
Copernicus,  24,  320,  367. 
Cosmic  immortality,  191. 
Cosmogonies,  234. 
Cosmological  dualism,  257. 

creationism,  235. 

law,  211. 

perspective,  14. 
Cosmos,  the,  229. 
Creation,  73,  79,  234. 

cosmological,  235. 

dualistic,  236. 

heptameral,  237 

individual,  237. 

myths  of,  236. 

periodic,  237. 

trialistic,  237. 
Cultur-kampf,  334. 
Cuvier,  74. 
Cyclostomata,  167. 
Cynopitheci,  46. 
Cytology,  26,  etc. 
Cytopsyche,  151. 
Cytula,  64. 

Darwin  (Charles),  78,  etc. 
Decidua,  69. 
Deduction,  16. 
Demonism,  276. 
Descartes,  99,  355. 
Descent  of  the  ape,  85,  etc. 

of  man,  87. 

theory  of,  77. 
Design,  264,  266. 

in  nature,  260. 

in  organisms,  266. 

in  selection,  261. 
Destruction  of  heavenly  bodie& 

243. 

Determimsts,  130. 
Diaphragm,  31. 
Division  of  labor  in  matte*,  ^29 
Draper,  309,  333. 
Dualism,  20,  etc. 
Du  Bois-Reymond,  15   f  80,  235- 
Du  Prel  (Carl),  305. 
Duty,  feeling  of,  350 
Dynamodes,  216. 
Dysteleology,  260. 


386 


INDEX 


Echinodermata,  62. 
Ectoderm,  160. 

sense-cells  in  the,  293. 
Egoism,  350. 
Elements,  chemical,  222. 

system  of  the,  222. 
Embryo,  human,  64. 
Embryology,  54. 
Embryonic  psychogeny,  144. 

sleep,  146. 

Empedocles,  23,  224. 
Encyclica  (of  Pius  IX.),  323. 
End  of  the  world,  247. 
Energy,  kinetic,  231. 

potential,  231. 

principle  of,  230. 

specific,  294. 
Entelecheia,  268. 
Entoderm,  160. 
Entropy  of  the  universe,  247. 
Epigenesis,  56,  133. 
Ergonomy  of  matter,  229. 
Eternity  of  the  world,  242. 
Ether,  225. 
Etheric  souls,  199. 
Ethics,  fundamental  law  of,  350. 
Evolution,   theory   of,  54,    239, 

243. 

chief  element  in,  267. 
Experience,  16. 
Extra-mundane  God,  288. 

Faith,  confession  of,  303. 

of  our  fathers,  304. 
Family,  the,  and  Christianity, 

357- 

Fate,  272. 
Fechner,  97,  etc. 
Fecundation,  63. 
Fetishism,  276. 
Feuerbach  (Ludwig),  295. 
Flechsig,  183. 
Foetal  membranes,  66. 
Folk-psychology,  103. 
Forces,  conversion  of,  231. 
Frederick  the  Great,  194,  315. 


Galen,  23,  40. 
Gaseous  souls,  199. 
vertebrates,  288. 


Gastraea,  1 60. 

theory  of  the,  60. 
Gastraeads,  159. 
Gastrula,  61. 
Gegenbaur,  25,  30. 
Generation,  theory  of,  55. 
Genus,  73. 
Geology,  periods  of,  270. 

progress  of,  373. 
Germinal  disk,  57. 
Gills,  65. 
God,  275. 

the  father,  277. 

the  son,  277,  328. 
Goethe,  20,  etc. 
Goethe's  monism,  331. 
Golden  Rule,  the,  351. 
Gospels,  312. 

Gravitation,  theory  of,  217. 
Gut-layer,  159. 

Haller,  42. 

Harvey,  42. 

Helmholtz  (Hermann),  213,  230. 

Heredity,  psychic,  138. 

Hertz  (Heinrich),  225. 

Hippocrates,  23. 

Histology,  26. 

Histopsyche,  156. 

Hoff  (Carl),  250. 

Holbach  (Paul),  193. 

Holy  Ghost,  277,  326. 

Humboldt  (Alexander),  343. 

Hydra,  161. 

Hylozoism,  289. 

Hypothesis,  299. 

latrochemicists,  45. 
latromechanicists,  45. 
Ideal  of  beauty,  338. 

of  truth,  337. 

of  virtue,  339. 
Ignorabimus,  180. 
Immaculate  conception,  326. 
Immaterial  substance,  221. 
Immortality  of  animals,  201. 

of  the  human  soul,  188. 

of    unicellular    organisms, 
190. 

personal,  192. 


387 


INDEX 


Imperfection  of  nature,  264. 
Imponderable  matter,  225. 
Impregnation,  64. 
Indeterminists,  130. 
Induction,  16. 
Indulgences,  359. 
Infallibility  of  the  pope,  324. 
Instinct,  105,  123. 
Intellect,  125,  etc. 
Intramundane  God,  288. 
Introspective  psychology,  95. 
Islam,  284. 

Janssen  (Johannes),  316. 
Jehovah,  283. 
Journeys  on  foot,  364. 

Kant,  258,  etc. 

Kant's  metamorphosis,  92,  etc. 

Kinetic  energy,  231. 

theory  of  substance,  216. 
K6lliker,  26,  48. 

Lamarck,  76,  etc. 
Lamettrie,  194. 
Landscape-painting,  343. 
Language,  126. 

study  of,  363. 
Last  judgment,  209. 
Lavoisier,  212. 
Leap  of  the  gospels,  miraculous, 

312. 

Leydig,  27. 
Life,  definition  of,  39. 
Limits  of  our  knowledge,  182. 
Love,  357- 

of  animals,  355. 

of  neighbor,  350. 

of  self,  350. 
Lucretius  Carus,  290. 
Lunarism,  281. 
Luther,  320. 
Lyell,  77,  250. 

Madonna,  cult  of  the,  284,  327. 
Malphigi,  54. 
Mammals,  30,  etc. 
Mammary  glands,  31. 
Man,  ancestors  of,  82. 
Marsupials,  32,  86. 


Mass,  222. 
Materialism,  20. 
Mayer  (Robert),  213,  377. 
Mechanical  causality,  366. 

explanation,  259. 

theory  of  heat,  247. 
Mechanicism,  259. 
Mediterranean  religions,  the,282. 
Memory,  cellular,  120. 

conscious,  121. 

histionic,  121 

unconscious,  121. 
Mephistppheles,  279. 
Metabolism,  232. 
Metamorphoses  of  the  cosmos, 
372. 

of  philosophers,  92. 
Metaphyta,  156. 
Metasitism,  153. 
Metazoa,  60,  157. 
Middle  Ages,  315,  358. 
Mixotheism,  286. 
Mohammedanism,  284. 
Mohr  (Friedrich),  213. 
Monera,  257,  369. 
Monism,  20,  and  passim. 

of  energy,  254. 

of  Spinoza,  331. 

of  the  cosmos,  255. 
Monistic  anthropogeny,  252. 

art,  341. 

biogeny,  251. 

churches,  345. 

cosmology,  368. 

ethics,  347. 

geogeny,  248. 
Monotheism,  279. 
Monotrema,  32. 
Moon- worship,  281. 
Moral  order  of  the  universe,  269 
Morula,  155. 
Mosaism,  283. 

Muller  (Johannes),  25,  45,  262. 
Mythology  of  the  soul,  135. 

Natural  religion,  344. 
Navel-cord,  69. 
Neo-kantians,  349. 
Neo vitalism,  264. 
Neptunian  geology,  375. 


388 


INDEX 


Ncuro-muscular  cells,  114. 
Neuroplasm,  91,  109. 
Neuropsyche,  162. 
Nomocracy,  9. 

Ontogenetic  psychology,  103. 
Ontological  creationisra,  235. 

methods,  249. 
Orbits  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 

241. 
Origin  of  movement,  15,  241. 

of  feeling,  15,  241. 
Ovary,  63. 

Palingenesis,  82. 

of  the  psyche,  143. 
Pandera  (the  father  of  Christ), 

328. 

Pantheism,  288. 
Papacy,  314. 
Papal  ethics,  359. 
Papiomorpha,  37. 
Paul,  313,  357. 

epistles  of,  312. 
Paulinism,  313. 
Pedicle  of  the  allantois,  69. 
Perpetual  motion,  245. 
Persistence  of  force,  212,  231. 

of  matter,  212. 
Phroneta,  293. 
Phylogeny,  71,  8l. 

of  the  apes,  51. 

systematic,  8l. 
Physiology,  39. 
Phytopsyche,  157. 
Pithecanthropus,  87. 
Pithecoid  theory,  82,  etc. 
Pithecometra-thesis,  69,  85. 
Placenta,  32,  68. 
Placentals,  32,  86. 
Plasmodoma,  153. 
Plasmogony,  257. 
Plasmophaga,  154. 
Plato,  99,  197. 
Plato's  theory  of  ideas,  269. 
Platodaria,  1 60. 
Platodes,  160. 
Platyrrhinae,  35. 
Pneuma  zoticon,  40. 
Polytheism,  276. 


Ponderable  matter,  222. 
Preformation  theory,  54. 
Primaria,  33. 
Primates,  33,  86. 
Primitive  Christianity,  311. 

gut,  6l,  161. 
Prodynamis,  216, 
Progaster,  161. 
Proplacentals,  85. 
Prosimiae,  34. 
Prostoma,  161. 
Prothyl,  223. 
Protoplasm,  90. 
Protozoa,  60. 
Pro  vertebrae,  166. 
Pseudo-Christianity,  321. 
Psychade  theory,  178. 
Psyche,  88. 
Psychogeny,  135. 

phyletic,  149. 

post-embryonic,  146. 
Psychology,  88  et  seqq. 

ontogenetic,  104. 

phylogenetic,  104. 
Psychomonism,  226. 
Psychophysics,  97. 
Psychoplasm,  91,  1 10. 
Pupa,  sleep  of  the,  146. 
Pyknosis,  218. 

Pyknotic  theory  of  substance, 
218. 

Reason,  17,  125. 
Reflex  action,  112. 

arches,  114. 
Reformation,  the,  319. 
Religion  a  private  concern,  361. 
Remak,  58. 
Revelation,  306. 
Reversion,  142. 
Romance  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 

327- 

Romanes,  106. 
Rudimentary  organs,  264. 

Saints,  284. 

Scale  of  emotion,  127. 

of  memory,  1 20. 

of  movement,  ill. 

of  presentation,  118. 


389 


INDEX 


Scale  of  reason,  122. 

of  reflex  action,  113. 

of  will,  127. 
Scatulation  theory,  55. 
Schleiden,  26,  47. 
School,  and  Church,  361. 

and  State,  362. 

reform  of  the,  363. 
Schwann,  26,  47. 
Selachii,  166. 
Selection,  theory  of,  79. 
Self-consciousness,  171. 
Sense-knowledge,  297. 

organs,  293. 

Senses,  philosophy  of  the,  295. 
Sentiment,  17,  etc.,  331. 
Siebold,  27. 
Simiae,  34. 
Social  duties,  351. 

instincts,  350. 
Solar  systems,  241,  369. 
Solarism,  280. 
Soul,  88  et  seqq. 

apparatus  of  the,  162. 

blending  of  the,  141. 

creation  of  the,  135. 

division  of  the,  135. 

etheric,  199. 

gaseous,  199. 

histionic,  157. 

history  of  the,  167. 

hydra,  161. 

life  of  the,  90. 

liquid,  200. 

mammal,  167. 

nerve,  162. 

origin  of  the,  135. 

of  the  plant,  157. 

personal,  162. 

solid,  201. 

substance  of  the,  198. 

transmigration  of  the,  135. 
Sources  of  knowledge,  293. 
Space  and  time,  244. 

infinity  of,  242. 

reality  of.  244. 
Species,  73. 
Spectral  analysis,  241. 
Spermarium,  63, 
Spermatozoa,  58. 


Spinal  cord,  165. 
Spinoza,  21,  215,  290. 
Spirit  world,  221. 
Spirit-rapping,  305. 
Spiritism,  304. 
Spiritualism,  20. 
Sponge,  soul  of  the,  161. 
Stem-cell,  63,  138,  151. 
Stimulated  movement,  113,  116. 
Stimuli,  conduction  of,  158. 
Strauss  (David),  309,  313. 
Struggle  for  life,  270. 
Substance,  215. 

law  of,  211,  etc. 

structure  of,  229. 
Superstition,  301. 
Suss  (Edward),  250. 
Syllabus,  323. 
Synodikon  (of  Pappus),  312. 

Table-turning,  305. 
Teleological  explanation,  259. 
Teleology,  258. 
Tetrapoda,  29. 
Thanatism,  189. 

primary,  192. 

secondary,  192. 
Theism,  276. 
Theocracy,  9. 
Theory,  299. 

Thought,  organs  of,  126, 183, 293. 
Time  and  space,  244. 

reality  of,  246. 
Tissue,  theory  of,  26. 
Tissue-forming  animals,  157. 

plants,  156. 
Transformism,  76. 
Trimurti,  278. 
Trinity,  dogma  of  the,  277. 

monistic,  336. 
Triplotheism,  277. 
Tropesis,  225. 
Tropismata,  128. 
Tunicata,  165. 
Turbellaria,  161. 

Ultramontanism,  310. 
Understanding,  125. 
Unity  of  natural  forces,  231. 
of  substance,  214. 


390 


INDEX 


Universum  perpetuum  mobile, 
T  245. 
Uterus,  34. 

Vaticanism,  314. 
Vertebrates,  27,  passim. 
Verworn  (Max),  48,  116. 
Vesalius,  24. 
Vibration,  theory  of,  216. 
Virchow,  26,  50. 
Virchow's  metamorphosis,  93. 
Vital  force,  42,  262. 
Vitalism,  43,  262. 


Vivisection,  41. 
Vogt  (Carl),  93. 
Vogt  (J.E.),  218. 

Water-color  drawing,  364. 

Weismann,  190. 

Will,  liberty  of  the,  129. 

scale  of  the,  128. 
Wolff  (C.F.),  56. 
Woman  and  Christianity,  358. 
World-consciousness,  171. 
World-riddles,  number  of,  15. 
Wundt  (Wilhelm),  100,  171. 


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t4DAY 

DEC  J  t>  1994 


2m-4,'36 


3  1378  00619  7555 


01 


Library  of  the 
University  of  California  Medical  School  and  Hospitals 


